Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Aussie Rules (33/?)

She turned to him and folded her arms around his neck. "Well done, Superman," she said. "You were magnificent."

"You, too," he said. "We're a great team."

"I knew we could handle a pair of reporters."

Clark chuckled - and felt the tight constraints of the Superman guise drop away. "I think you just captured Jimmy's heart."

"He seems like a nice kid."

"He is," Clark said. "You just gave him the best photograph of his career."

Lois smiled. "We had to give the Daily Planet some advantage. After all, you need a job."

"And Perry needs a break."

Lois nodded.

The elevator clanged to a stop, and they both straightened and emptied their faces of all expression.

They stepped from the elevator and walked outside. Under the globe, Clark hesitated long enough to acknowledge the screaming, waving crowd and then lifted Lois into his arms and flew away.


Part 33

We have answers to some of our questions regarding the man who claims to be an alien from the planet Krypton. Other questions, though, remain frustratingly - and perhaps dangerously - unanswered.

Mayson Drake finished her story with a flourish. She knew it was good - good enough to guarantee that the Daily Planet would be the newspaper of choice for the thinking person.

Certainly, it would be better than what the Star would offer - Mayson fully expected Linda King's story to read like a trashy romantic novel.

However, despite having just written up an interview with an alien, Mayson felt none of the euphoria that should accompany such a story.

Having to co-interview with Linda King was insulting. Having Superman's squeeze turn up had pushed the entire venture to the edge of degenerating into a farce. Mayson had experienced an immediate and intense dislike for the woman who had sat with such serenity alongside her superhero boyfriend.

They had looked so ... complete. So absolute in each other. There had been minimal physical contact between them, yet that hadn't weakened the illusion of their invisible bond.

Mayson scoffed audibly. Ultra Woman - what a fatuous name.

She wouldn't look so smug when she came face to face with the green rock. It wouldn't be Superman's *heart* controlling him then.

It would be Mayson Drake.

And the spandex twins had better get used to it.

Superman had refused to deny that the green rock was hazardous to him. In Mayson's mind, that constituted an admission.

She had determined the first steps in what she intended to be a lengthy - and supremely enjoyable - journey.

At the next suitable opportunity, she would expose Superman to the green rock. Not a large dose - just enough for him to understand the new power structure. Then, she would issue her ultimatum - unless given prior notification of a Superman appearance, she would arrive at the scene with the green rock.

This would cause him embarrassing physical difficulties ... but more than that, she was sure he wouldn't want the world to become aware of his vulnerability.

Superman was going to be huge - an *alien* interacting and living amongst humans. And not just any dreary alien, but a strong and powerful one, complete with a girlfriend - which afforded so many prospects for future scandal that Mayson's fingers twitched in anticipation.

And she, Mayson Drake, held the key.

Her professional life had never looked more promising.

But personally ...

There had been a few scant moments of satisfaction in educating Scardino, the dumb Australian, in the realities of life. Being totally gullible, he'd pressed her for an explanation, and Mayson hadn't held back in making it patently clear that if he'd ever believed he was in her league, he was more delusional than she had feared.

But ... it was precisely because he *wasn't* in her league that the whole episode had left her with a vaguely dissatisfied feeling - not unlike when she reduced Olsen to an inarticulate nervous wreck.

She needed a challenge.

A challenge she could win - but something worthy of her abilities.

Who was the one man who stood up to her?

Well, there were two, but Perry White was old, past his time, and probably within a year of a health-crisis-induced retirement. For now, she was content to allow him to keep the editor's chair - she certainly didn't want to be stuck behind a desk while other reporters got the Superman stories. One day, it would be hers - guaranteed by the sure-fire combination of her own brilliance, her uncle's money, and the coming plethora of Superman exclusives.

But the other man ... Clark Kent.

The only man to stand against her attempts to attract him ... but his recalcitrance had only increased her desire for him.

She wanted him back in Metropolis so she could actively resume her efforts to ensnare him. He was startlingly good-looking and, from what she could deduce, had a spectacular body. He was *exactly* what she needed to complete the picture of the modern, successful woman.

Mayson wanted him.

And what Mayson wanted, Mayson took.

The passing of time had allowed her to recover from his rejection of her marriage proposal ... and to decide on a fresh strategy.

Nothing motivated a man like the threat of public humiliation ... And nothing humiliated a man like public defeat.

Jealousy.

Even greenhorn Kansans had to feel jealousy.

She would lure Kent back to Metropolis - that bit would be simple.

Then she would force his hand with the threat of competition.

Powerful competition.

Wealthy competition.

Illustrious competition.

Mayson picked up the phone and dialled Lex Luthor's private number.

||_||

Walking to Lois's on Wednesday morning was a disparate business. Whenever Clark thought of being with Lois again, his feet increased their pace without any conscious direction from him. Then he would remember that it had been barely seven hours since he had left her unit, and he would deliberately slow his steps. She was probably still asleep.

They had arrived back in Melbourne and - using some superspeed - had gotten into Lois's home without alerting anyone that two strangely dressed individuals had flown in from the northern hemisphere.

Clark had spun out of his suit, and Lois had gone into her bedroom and emerged ten minutes later dressed in loose, comfortable tracksuit pants and a sweater. They had sat together on the couch, drinking Milo, dissecting their interview, and trying to forecast the tone of the stories by Mayson and Linda.

They had covered every aspect of the interview ... except one. They had carefully avoided any allusion to Mayson's questions regarding the physical aspect of his relationship with Lois. Even now, Clark couldn't comfortably think of those few minutes.

He and Lois had to discuss it. They had to. But Clark was dreading it.

Last night, after an hour with Lois, Clark had forced himself to return to his unit. Being with her after the factory fire had been incredible, but he didn't want to slip into the habit of staying overnight with her - even assuming she would want that.

His feet were racing again, and Clark deliberately slowed his pace. Then, he heard her heartbeat - pounding fiercely - and her running footsteps.

Clark dashed the length of the street and turned the corner.

Lois saw him, quickly closed the distance between them, and flew into his arms. His quick glance had been enough to reassure him that she was smiling. Whatever had precipitated her haste, it wasn't anything bad.

As he held her, he could feel the excitement jigging through her. She backed away and landed an energetic kiss on his mouth.

"Guess what?" she said, executing little jumps of enthusiasm as she spoke.

"What?" he said, grinning widely.

"The sleeping giant has finally stirred, and the Hawthorn faithful are making their move."

"Really? What's happening?"

"Our former skipper, Don Scott - he became the captain after Crimmo - is challenging the merger. He believes we can do this. He believes we can raise the million dollars needed to pay off our debt; he believes we can significantly increase our membership, and move forward with confidence - *without* merging."

Clark hugged her tightly against his body. "Lois, I'm so pleased for you," he said against her ear.

She clung to him. "Thank you." She kissed him - hot, hard, and exultantly.

Clark took a steadying breath and dragged his concentration back to football. "What are you doing today?" he asked. "Meeting him?"

Lois shook her head. "Today, he's finding answers - finding out the exact condition of our finances ... exploring any legal issues. Tomorrow - we decide what to do about it."

"*We* being you and Don Scott?"

Lois emphatically shook her head. "No," she said. "And that's the wonderful thing. Scotty will be the face of this - he handles the media with aplomb - but it's not just him. There are other past players and other members who have grave doubts about the merger - people who will band together behind Scotty's leadership. One or two can't do this - if Hawthorn are going to survive, it has to be because many, many members of the Hawthorn family want it."

Clark hugged her. "Lois," he said. "I'm really glad. I was beginning to wonder if you were the only one who cared."

"Me, too," Lois admitted. "I have a part to play - I can write letters, and write more pamphlets, and rattle tins, and spread the word that we *can* survive - but if this is going to happen, it's going to be because thousands of Hawks refuse to bow to those who want us to crawl away and die quietly."

"Are you hungry?" Clark asked. "Can I take you to breakfast?"

Lois grinned happily. "I would love that," she said. "And then ... you know what?"

"What?"

"There's nothing more I can do for Hawthorn until tomorrow - so we *both* have the whole day free."

Clark grinned. "What would you like to do?"

"Start with breakfast," Lois said. "At that cafe we went to the first morning you were in Melbourne."

"And then?"

"And then I'm sure we can think of something," she said with a buoyant grin. "It's not like we're too constrained by time or distance."

||_||

Clark landed on the hot sand and lowered Lois to her feet.

She raised her arms and lifted her face to the sun. "Aahhh," she said. "It is *so* good to feel warmth again after months of Melbourne winter."

Clark grinned. "You know, Melbourne winters are not *that* cold."

"They're bleak," Lois said firmly. "And grey, and overcast." She smiled. "And anyway, what would you know, Superman? You wouldn't feel cold in the Antarctic."

"Do you want to swim?" Clark asked. "Or sunbathe?"

Lois peeled off her sweater and stepped out of her jeans to reveal a white t-shirt and blue shorts. "Maybe both," she said. "But first I need to sunscreen." She grinned. "You might think Melbourne winters are mild, but it would be hard to explain the sudden appearance of a tan."

"Need any help?"

She shot him an amused look that said she'd noted his eagerness and pulled a large towel from her bag. "Yes, please," she said. "You can put this on the sand for us to sit on."

He grinned despite his disappointment.

A few moments later, they were seated on the towel, and Lois, having applied the sunscreen, settled comfortably. "This is beautiful," she said. "Where are we?"

"On the island of Motu Vavaratea in French Polynesia."

"I bet you're a whiz at geography."

He nodded.

She giggled. "Languages, too."

He smiled.

"The look on Mayson's face when you responded in French was hilarious," Lois said. "I had to stare ahead and think about Hawthorn being beaten by North Melbourne to keep from bursting into laughter."

Clark smiled, but behind it, his thoughts were whirling. This was the opportunity he needed. "Lois," he said. "Could we talk?"

She studied him for a small moment and then surveyed their surroundings. When she turned back to him, her expression had become pensive. "You didn't bring me here just to enjoy the warmth?"

"No."

"Judging by your choice of location, this is to be a private conversation."

He nodded. "It's something I've wanted to talk to you about for a while."

"OK."

Strangely, she didn't look too curious. She probably figured that nothing could possibly trump the 'I'm Superman' revelation. Though if anything, Clark found he was almost more apprehensive about this than he had been about telling her he was from another planet. "Would you like something?" he asked, refusing to acknowledge, even to himself, that he was stalling. "I can bring you a drink or something to eat."

"No," she said. "I think we should just get this over with."

Clark studied her face as his heart thumped. Surely, she couldn't have guessed what he was going to say. She *couldn't* have.

The sun was hot, the sand was warm, and a cooling breeze fluttered off the water. If the location could possibly make this any easier, he'd chosen the perfect place.

If only he could think of the perfect way to begin.

The silence stretched as he floundered.

"I thought Mayson and Linda were quite unimaginative in their questions," Lois said. "I don't think what they got was worth half a million dollars."

"Did you read their stories? On the 'net?"

Lois nodded. "The bulk of Mayson's story was fair and factual - probably to increase the impact of her subtle attempts to rehash Trask's suspicions. Linda concentrated on the personal aspects - though she seemed more interested in the future of our relationship than the answers we gave."

"That's the risk you take with the media," Clark said wryly. "You can never be sure how they will slant the story."

"Oh, I think that we got what we wanted," Lois said. "Just the fact that you were willing to do the interview speaks volumes. The two stories being so diverse will allow people to make up their own minds. And Jimmy's photograph portrayed two people very much in love."

"They asked some questions we hadn't anticipated," Clark said.

"Not really."

Clark managed to keep from spluttering. "You were expecting them to ask about ...?" He stopped, not sure how to frame the rest of his question.

"Our sex life," Lois said easily. "I think it was obvious once you used the word 'girlfriend' that they would ask something about the most personal aspect of our personal lives."

Clark could feel himself reddening as he recalled that part of the interview. "You handled them with amazing composure," he said. "I didn't know what to say."

"I assumed they would ask, so I had an answer ready," Lois said.

"You didn't tell me you were expecting those sorts of questions," Clark chided mildly.

Lois put her hand on his bare arm and smiled. "Telling you would have only made you more nervous," she said. "Questions on this topic very definitely fell into the category of those that I could answer more easily than you could."

"Mmmhm," he agreed, completely out of ideas for how to proceed.

"But *we* should discuss it," Lois said. "Which is, I imagine, why you've brought me here."

He nodded. "You must have questions," he said. "About ... me."

"Not really," she said.

"You don't?"

"No," Lois said. She folded her hands together and stared at them. "I did - the night I went home after you'd told me you were from Krypton. I had a million questions - and some of them were about this."

"And?"

"And I figured out most of the answers." She looked up from her hands. "And saved both of us some embarrassment."

"I don't have anything to hide ... and I don't want any secrets from you," Clark said. "But I haven't been looking forward to this."

"Don't worry," she told him. "It will be a whole lot easier than you're imagining."

"It will?"

Lois nodded. "As we fly back to Melbourne, I reckon it's a fair bet that you'll be more shocked than I am."

Clark was fairly certain that wasn't going to be possible. "Did your questions include ... some of the things Linda asked?"

Lois nodded. "I did wonder if physically you are like human men - and then I decided that you were."

Clark felt his discomfiture singe his ears again. "The suit," he guessed.

She chuckled. "I didn't see you in the suit until yesterday. And I don't have x-ray vision."

"X-ray vision may be superfluous in those suits," he noted dryly.

She smiled briefly. "I thought about it, and I realised that if you were ... different ... you would have told me that night when you told me all your other secrets." She grinned cheekily, and some of the tension ebbed away. "And the bits of you I have seen look human - the upper echelon of human magnificence - but human nevertheless. So there was no reason to think otherwise."

Clark released a big breath. "Did you have any other questions?"

"Dating a Kryptonian is a new experience for me," Lois said with a smile. "So, I did wonder if Kryptonian men find Earth women attractive."

"I can only speak for one Kryptonian man," he said. "I can say that I don't find *all* Earth women attractive, but one particular woman I find *extremely* attractive."

Lois cheeks went a little pink, but her smile showed how much she had liked his declaration. "Sexually attractive?" she probed.

"Yes."

She looked down at the sand, still grinning. Then she cleared her throat and pulled her smile into submission. "Perhaps we should move on," she said.

Clark recognised that this was the best opportunity he was going to get. "Before we do move on," he said. "Can I ask the same question?"

"Do I find you sexually attractive?" Lois asked.

Clark nodded, not permitting himself to give in to the temptation to look away.

Lois smiled. It wasn't her usual smile - this one held something he hadn't seen before - something ... inviting ... something innately woman. "Yes," she said in a voice that cracked. "You drive me crazy."

Her words exploded through him, setting him afire. "Now we *really* need to move on," he said doggedly.

She scooped her hand through the sand and let it sift through her fingers. "I know what you're trying to tell me," she said.

"You do?"

She looked up at him. "Does it make it any easier knowing that I know?"

"I doubt you know this," he hedged.

"I do," she said decisively. "I know that you're trying to tell me that you've never been totally intimate before."

Clark's heart dived, rose, and shuddered through another long dive. "You know?" he rasped.

Lois smiled reflectively. "It wasn't that difficult," she said. "You didn't even kiss me until you'd told me your secret. I can't imagine you would go the whole way with someone unless you'd told her the truth first ... and, until me, you'd never told anyone."

"I have *kissed* other women," Clark stated. "Even though they didn't know the truth about me."

Lois's laughter rang out across the beach.

"What's funny?" he asked.

Lois covered her mouth with her hand and looked out from above it with eyes that sparkled. Her hand dropped, and she said, "You are so remarkably expert at kissing, I figured you had to have gone that far."

Relief - and gratification - inundated him. Lois enjoyed his kisses. Yet his contentment couldn't cancel out his persisting discomfiture at what was - for anybody - a seismic disclosure. "Are you OK with this?" he asked hesitantly.

"With what?" she asked.

Was she going to make him say it? He waited. She waited. She *was* going to make him say it. "Are you OK that I'm a virgin?" he said.

"Totally," she said. "I am, too."

Clark felt jagged shock detonate through his brain. The stupefaction disengaged his speech faculty, and his mouth opened, but no words emerged.

"I have dreaded telling anyone that for most of the past decade," Lois said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be able to say 'I am, *too*.'"

"How ..." Clark faltered. He'd thought a lot about how Lois would respond to his admission, but now, he had no clue about how to respond to hers.

"The weekend before I started uni, Barb took me away for a girls' retreat," Lois said. "By then, we'd both accepted that she was the closest thing I had to a mother. She told me that the act of love is one of the most powerful of all things, and it can be powerfully good or powerfully bad. She said that the important factors were the 'when' and the 'why', but the most important of all was the 'who'. She suggested that the litmus test could be whether I loved him more than I loved Hawthorn."

Clark's surprise receded enough that he almost managed a smile. He'd never thought of a football club as being integral to a mother's advice on intimacy.

"Throughout uni, there were some blokes," Lois continued. "But the same thing just kept happening. I would think he was nice, but then way, way before he'd come anywhere near Hawthorn in my affections, he would start pressuring me into his bed. Generally, not long after that, he would leave for someone more accommodating."

Clark smiled gently. "Someone with lower standards?" he asked.

Lois shrugged. "They didn't see it that way." She arched her knees and wrapped her arms around them. "Once I finished uni, I got the job in Echuca and met Paul Bender. He was the senior sports reporter - a fair bit older than I was - and he'd just come out of a marriage that wasn't working. He was good company, and he taught me a lot professionally, but most weekends we were working, and during the weeks, he had his four kids." She glanced to Clark. "I think he was petrified that I would get pregnant and he would have another child support payment."

"What happened? Did he go back to his wife?"

"No. I got the job at the Herald Sun and came back to Melbourne with not too many regrets about leaving him."

"Then there was Claude," Clark said, not managing to keep the distaste from his tone.

Lois nodded. "I would've thrown out all the good advice - all the advice that had probably kept my disasters from being even more devastating - if he'd shown even the slightest interest. But, as he told me later, no real man would waste his time on a ho-hum mare when there were far better-looking fillies in the stable."

"Aw, Lois," Clark said, wanting, right then, to squish Claude like a bug on a windshield.

She smiled, though there was no humour in it. "And it was about then that I realised the earth-shattering truth. I was almost in my mid-twenties, and I was still ... *waiting*. Waiting for someone I could love completely and trust totally. Waiting for my perfect man. And I also realised that not only did I need a man whom I could love more than Hawthorn, I also needed someone who wasn't going to mock, or sneer, or patronise me when I told him my big secret."

"Lois ... I would never mock, or sneer, or patronise ... no matter what you told me."

"I know," she said. "And that's just one of the things that tells me I've found my perfect man." She chuckled. "At the airport - of all places."

"I saw you first," Clark said quickly. "I found you before you found me."

"Did you?"

"Uh huh. I was watching the Eagles supporters, and they suddenly started wolf whistling. I looked across and saw a woman who completely took my breath away."

Lois leant into his side, and Clark put his arm across her shoulders. "Was it that immediate?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered honestly. "Yes, it was. I knew as we were driving to the city that I had fallen for you in such a big way that I might never recover. Then, the next morning, we did footy skills at the park ... and that tackling." He hauled in a big breath. "I was sure you were trying to drive me to distraction."

"I figured you were safe - that you either had a commitment in Metropolis, or you had so many offers you wouldn't even look at me."

"I *am* safe," Clark murmured as he brushed back her hair and exposed a little patch of skin on her neck, which he then kissed.

He felt her laughter ripple though her. "You don't feel very safe right now."

Reluctantly, he retreated. "I won't do anything more than kiss you," he vowed. "Not here. Our first time is going to be special. And planned."

She turned to him, smiling. "Really? Planned? You've thought about this? What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But I'm hoping it will make us both glad that we waited."

Lois rested her head on his shoulder. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

Clark chuckled. "You mean more personal than some of the questions we've already asked?"

He felt her nod, but her head didn't leave its place on his shoulder.

"Go ahead," Clark said. "No secrets, remember."

"When were you closest? Which time did you come closest to giving in?"

Clark felt his memories stir up amusement. The question might have been personal, but it certainly wasn't difficult to answer. "On the grass above Lorne Beach," he said. "When we crossed the road to the cafe, I'd noticed there were some nice-looking hotel rooms set into the side of the mountain. Then, you started kissing me, and I came so close to saying, 'Lois, there are hotel rooms, let's get one.'"

He expected her to ask him why he hadn't made the suggestion. Instead, she surprised him again by asking, "What about with other women?"

He wasn't going to lie ... or even attempt to cover some of the truth. "I thought about it," he said. "Many times, I thought about it. And there were times when, physically, I wanted to. But I knew that if I did, I would have to tell them so much more - and I never felt able to do that."

"You didn't completely trust them?"

"That's part of it. The other part was that telling the secret was like permanently inviting someone into the tiny world where I can truly be me. Until I met you, there was never anyone else I wanted in there."

Lois lifted her head and smiled softly. "I love being in the world where you can be you," she said. "And I love you."

"I love you," Clark said. "Thank you for telling me ... about you."

She chuckled. "You were going to find out," she said. "One day."

One day.

One day.

Impatience.

Promise.

Glorious promise.

Gruelling impatience.

"It's cooling off," Lois said. "If we're going to swim, it should be soon."

Clark nodded. "I deliberately brought you far enough east that the sun would be low in the sky - and you wouldn't risk getting burned."

She smiled, and her hand caressed his arm. "So, no need for more sunscreen."

"Probably not," he said, smiling despite how much he would have enjoyed rubbing the sunscreen into Lois's shoulders and back.

She stood, peeled off her t-shirt, and dropped her shorts, revealing a black one-piece that, compared to many swimsuits, was modest. The reaction of Clark's heart, though, was not.

He stood there, his eyes glued to her. She laughed and pushed gently at his shoulder. "Come on," she said. "Take off that shirt."

"Why?" he managed through a desiccated throat.

"Because I want to see your chest."

Robotically, he took off his shirt, still staring at Lois. He lifted his eyes and saw undisguised appreciation on her face.

"Wow," she breathed.

Clark's cheeks ballooned and he let out a deep breath. "Shall we swim?"

Lois nodded. "Yes," she said. "It suddenly got very hot around here."

He took her hand, and together they walked towards the water.

"Clark?"

"Uhm?"

"Just in case you were wondering," Lois said. "I love you more than I love Hawthorn."

||_||

Mayson's eyes filled with abundant tears.

The older woman offered a folded white handkerchief. "Thank you for coming," she said. "Thank you for telling me. I had no idea it had become so bad."

Mayson took the handkerchief. "He tries to hide it," she said, sniffling. "But he's always so pale, and more than once I've seen him rubbing his chest and grimacing like he's in pain."

Fear rolled across the older woman's eyes.

Mayson drove home her advantage. "I ... I could never forgive myself if something happened to Perry."

"Nothing will happen. I will talk to him and make him see sense. I'll tell him he needs to retire."

Mayson's tears flowed again, and she shook her head. "No, Alice," she said. "That would destroy him. We need to find a way to lessen his workload."

"Can he employ someone new?"

"He could - but if anyone is going to take on some of Perry's work, it will have to be someone he knows and trusts."

"How about Clark? I know Perry's missed him since he went to Australia."

"Clark will be home in two months," Mayson said. "But by then ..."

Alice White put her hand on Mayson's arm - warm and motherly. "You leave it with me," she said. "Perry runs that newsroom, but I run this marriage. I'll tell him that unless he gets Clark home, I will insist that he retires."

Mayson stared soulfully as she dabbed at her tears. "Thank you, Alice," she said. "You have no idea what this means to me."

||_||

Notes

Don Scott did captain Hawthorn and, in 1996, led the anti-merger campaign. If I were to give you links to information about him, it could spoil the story for anyone who doesn't want to know the outcome.