Lois and Christmas had never gotten along very well. Christmas to her had always been that sort of obnoxiously cheery family uncle that you had to put up with and pretend you liked, but inside you dreaded seeing whenever he came to visit. Besides, being a newswoman, she had known when she was being sold a line, and Christmas cheer had always been the biggest lie of them all. Her family, when they had tried to get together at the holidays, were always awkward around each other at best, and at each others throats at worst. After pretenses of niceness would fail, her mother would disappear with a bottle of gin, not to be heard from till Christmas afternoon. Her sister Lucy and herself had tried on occasion to make it a better holiday. But somehow, the dynamics of her parents--whether married or divorced--always ruined it. Then, when she had moved to Metropolis, she had merely felt lonely when Christmas came around. Too burdened by the memories of childhood to want to try and go home for the holidays, she would just hold up in her apartment, year after year. She'd maybe go to the Daily Planet Christmas party, smile, and say, 'oh, yes, I'm heading out to visit my family tomorrow.' Everyone always accepted her lie, because it was what was expected. Everyone had touted how wonderful Christmas was, and yet she had only ever wanted to merely survive the holiday.
That is, until *he* came into her life. Until Clark Kent. Superman. Her husband.
She had finally seen Christmas through his eyes last year, and discovered how wonderfully simple and lovely it could be. Both sets of their parents had come to visit Metropolis for the holiday. Her family, with all their complications, alcoholism, and cyborg-weirdness... And his wonderful, down to earth, generous parents. She'd never forget feeling the chaos around her starting to overwhelm her when her father had brought in that hideous fake silver tree and his *cyborg*-whatever, and then, Martha and Jonathan had come in with a beautiful hand-picked spruce. Her heart had melted at the simplicity of it, the rightness of it. It was the way Christmas should be.
That's what Clark and his family had taught her about Christmas. It's simple beauty.
And this year it would be different, better even. This year she was Mrs. Clark Kent and she was deeply in love. This year they were 'flying' out to Kansas to spend it with his folks, thanks to Superman Express. This year she had escaped spending another awkward holiday either trying to avoid her family or even worse, miserably alone.
This year, she could explore the idea of a perfect Christmas. A Currier and Ives, snow on the ground, and surrounded by the ones you love---Christmas.
Something she never thought she would want to do, let alone get the chance to do.
She, Lois Lane, was excited about Christmas. She would never admit it to anyone in a million years, but she had been flipping through Better Homes & Gardens magazines for ideas on how to make their brownstone just perfect for the holidays. Even if they wouldn't be there for Christmas Day, it was still the Season, and she couldn't wait for Clark to see the fruits of her labor. She wanted to give him a magical Christmas. He was magical to her in so many ways... besides just the super ones.
It was magical to her that they had found one another.
It was magical that she had finally stopped being stubbornly independent long enough to see what a great a guy he was.
She had almost missed him.
Thank God Superman is a patient man.
*-*-*-*
"Can you believe Christmas is only five days away?" Clark asked, coming up behind Lois in the kitchen and wrapping his arms around her lovingly. They had just gotten home from work and she was sorting the mail.
"No! And I'm still not done shopping! I'm determined to get Perry something nicer than a pair of suspenders this year. Oh, and I found this really beautiful easel that I thought your mom would love, but I have to get to the store before tomorrow if I'm going to get it---"
Clark started kissing her neck, distracting her. "Mmmm... are you doing that on purpose?" she asked, the mail suddenly looking much less interesting.
"Well, sometimes it's the only way to keep you from going into babble mode," he said playfully, kissing her just under her left ear, which he knew would give her pleasurable shivers.
She turned in his arms to face him. "I know of something else that keeps me from going into babble mode," she whispered, getting into his game.
Lois leaned up to kiss him, wrapping her arms tightly around him as she moved in closer.
"Oh yeah?" he asked huskily, "What?"
He caressed her face, gently planting kisses on her nose, her chin, her eyes, until she couldn't take it anymore and brought him to her lips. Suddenly, they seemed too constricted in their work outfits. Lois began undoing Clark's tie, hoping she wouldn't encounter the Suit at that moment as she unbuttoned his shirt, which would hinder her goal. She was relieved for once to not find spandex, but just Clark's chiseled, bare chest which she instantly leaned down to kiss, just below his collar bone. Clark trembled deliciously at her gentle touch and brought her face back up to his, meeting her eyes and kissing her mouth with simmering passion as he started to undo the buttons of Lois' blouse. Lois tugged Clark's shirt out from his pants, stroking the lean muscles of his back as she did so. She even managed to undo his belt, but her fingers kept getting distracted by the smooth plane of his abs.
Clark's strong embrace held them up against the counter as things heated up between them. Before they knew it, they were half naked, half lying on the kitchen counter, the mail and Christmas shopping lists utterly forgotten.
Lois paused from kissing him just long enough to ask, "Do you think we could move this to somewhere more comfortable? You may be invulnerable, but I am not impervious to cutlery--"
She didn't even finish the sentence as Clark quickly whisked her up to their bedroom to finish what they had started in the kitchen.
*-*-*-*
Sometime later, a languorous Lois came down the stairs, utterly content with her life. She had taken a short nap after their lovemaking, but had awoken to a note on his pillow. 'S is needed. Will bring home the tree. Love, Clark.' It had made her sigh a little bit to wake up without him next to her, but she had also decided that it would give her some time to start the Christmas decorating.
Lois turned on a Frank Sinatra album, the first crooning notes of The Christmas Song eliciting a tuneful hum from her lips. She had been buying all new decorations since Thanksgiving which she had shoved into the hall closet until tonight. It was their first Christmas in their new house and she wanted it to look perfect. She had never bothered before with many decorations, usually just a sad little Charlie Brown tree. But this year, she was determined things would be different.
Even though she couldn't wait for Clark to return home, she enjoyed the time putting up decorations on her own. She put up various wreaths and gold and burgundy taffeta streamers around the room, giving it a homey, Christmas feeling that she wanted to wrap around herself forever. Actually, there was someone more tangible she'd prefer to wrap herself around forever, but the Christmas feeling was doing nicely until he got home.
After about an hour of setting everything up, she set the room aglow with candles and white lights. Lois surveyed her work around the room, enjoying the effect. All it was missing was a home cooked meal.
Lois still hadn't mastered the art of cooking, but the art of takeout she had perfected. Before leaving the Planet that afternoon she had ordered in from the gourmet grocery store a lovely meal for two, complete with a chocolate mousse dessert. All she had to do was set the table.
Lois was opening the wine bottle, or trying to, when she heard the front door open from the kitchen.
She made her way towards the living room with a smile. "I'm glad you're here! I could sure use some super---" her sentence froze on her lips as she looked up, and the still unopened bottle slipped harmlessly to the carpet as she saw it wasn't Clark who had come in her front door.
"Tempus," she whispered in complete shock.
"Surprise! Merry Christmas, Lois!" said the time traveling maniac, in that oily annoying way of his.
Lois tried to gain her composure, even though her heart was hammering a mile a minute. "Clark will be home any second, Tempus," she said with as much courage as she could muster.
"Then I need to act fast. No time for explanations. We'll chitchat on the way."
With that comment, he grabbed her arm and flicked a switch on his device in one motion. Lois felt the pinch of light, her body disappearing from her living room before she even knew what happened.
*-*-*-*
"Lois, you'll never believe the tree I found," Clark said, opening the front door. He heard Sinatra playing in the background and saw the lovely effort Lois had gone through to decorate the living room for the holiday. He had never seen her so zealous before about Christmas, and it warmed him. He was glad the holiday was finally reaching her.
"Lois?" he called, thinking she was still in the kitchen. Then he stilled. He set the tree down and tried to calm the panic rising in his chest. He could always hear her heartbeat nearby, though he had grown so accustomed to it, he hardly paid attention to it anymore. Now suddenly its absence sent him into a panic. He scanned the kitchen, seeing the meal she had prepared--no, there was a bag from Metropolis Market on the counter--the meal she had *ordered* was set on the table. He lifted his head up and scanned their bedroom.
She wasn't there. Methodically he made himself check everywhere in the brownstone, just in case. The bathroom, the back porch, the laundry room. She had said she planned to stay home all evening... had she gotten a call for a story?
Then he saw it. The wine bottle, laying on the floor, closed with an opener stuck in its cork. It was nowhere near a table. Someone had dropped it.
Lois had dropped it.
Someone had scared her into dropping that bottle of wine.
And, he feared, had kidnapped her.
Clark spun into Superman and headed out the door, desperate to see if he could find a trail.
