Previously:
In the end, the subject of her going to Smallville had not come up again. Lois was still conflicted about whether spending the weekend out-of-town with Clark was a good idea or not. It would be wonderful to spend so much uninterrupted time with him. It would also mean trusting Clark with far too much power in their relationship.
Now, stuck in this chilly, oppressively dark prison, Lois would much rather be sitting next to Clark on a plane. Hell, she would be happy to be sitting in the cramped confines of her car in the midst of another interminable stakeout. Anywhere would be better than here - wherever here was. Lois picked up the edges of the blanket, wrapping them around herself in an attempt to keep warm.
Then she blinked a couple of times, disbelieving her eyes as a tiny shaft of daylight shone through the floor.<><><>
The Other Shoe 5/10
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Saturday morning
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There was a seam in the floor, only a half inch wide and a few inches long, but it revealed definite, delicious daylight. Lois tried to peer though the crack but it was too narrow to see much. She poked it with her fingernail but was unable to get more than a few tiny splinters free. Lois fixed her gaze on the small beam of light and assessed her situation. She had nothing she could use to dig at the hole. If only she'd still had her shoes, she could have used the heels. She absent-mindedly scratched at her wrist.
Her watch! Lois took it off and, using the metal bracelet, scratched at the seam, shaving away a few tiny splinters of wood that dropped through the crack. She let out a frustrated growl and peered again through the crack. If she squinted, she could make out a wooden beam and gravel. She had to be in a railroad car.
Lois ran her fingertip along the edge of the crack. The wood was smooth and she cursed herself for helping to polish it when she rubbed it with her watch. At one end, though, she could feel the way the wood rose slightly. She tapped the crack at the edge of the rise and tried to think if she had anything that she could use to jimmy it up. She tried the band on her watch, but it was just barely too thick to fit into the crack. On the off-chance that it might work, she shimmied the edge of the blanket beneath a splinter and tugged. A jagged inch-long piece came up with a crack. Encouraged, Lois worked the blanket beneath another splinter and pried it up as well.
After nearly an hour, using her watch and the blanket, she had widened the seam in the floor to two inches wide and about five inches long. Her view of the world now included definite train tracks beneath her. Judging the plant growth, she was on a shunted line. It was obviously going to be a long process to get out, but Lois was buoyed by the realization that it was possible.
As she worked at the floor Lois thought about all the reasons she had to get out of there. First, of course, was that she had no idea what her captor planned to do with her. She had plans of her own and they didn't include being someone's prisoner. She still had a Pulitzer to win. She was going to be the first female Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet, preferably before she was 40. And, while she would deny it if anyone was bold enough to bring up the subject, she wanted to get married and have a family. She wanted to kiss Clark again. She wanted to do a lot of things with Clark, actually. She wanted to spend a weekend in Smallville with him. She wanted another walk in the rain with him…
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Thursday night<><><>
It wasn't an official date, but Clark had insisted on buying her dinner after work. All day long Clark had been watching her, his expression speculative. Tonight, if he asked her to go to Smallville with him, she wasn't about to blow it. As they left the restaurant, Lois didn't want the evening to end yet so she suggested walking the ten or so blocks to her apartment.
"It's supposed to rain tonight," Clark said with a glance up at the sky.
Lois shrugged. "Will you melt?"
He grinned at her and proffered his arm. "Maybe. But I'm willing to risk it."
"Me, too." She took hold of his arm and tugged him in the direction of her apartment. A long rumble of thunder echoed loudly in the artificial canyons of the city.
"We could run for it," he suggested.
Lois tightened her grip on his arm. "Nah. Let's risk it."
Clark's answering smile made her realize that he didn't want the evening to end yet either. "Maybe we should walk slower?" he suggested.
They slowed to an amble. A few fat drops of rain fell, but they were easily ignored. Lois leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked, utterly content as she luxuriated in the almost electric crackle between them. Ask me, she silently willed him. Please, Clark, ask me again.
Without warning, the slow drops of rain changed into a torrential downpour. Both of them were shaking with laughter as Clark stepped into a doorway alcove and pulled her close against him. His fingers smoothed a strand of wet hair off her forehead. "I guess we should have run for it after all," he said.
"Hindsight is always perfect."
"No, this is perfect." Clark kissed her cheek and then began to leave a trail of kisses down her neck. "God, you smell good."
The world suddenly ceased to exist beyond the wide arc of his shoulders. Lois closed her eyes and tipped her head back to give him better access. "It's a new perfume. You like it?"
"Mmm." He nibbled softly at her collarbone. "What's it called?" His mouth went lower still, leaving a soft kiss where the vee of her shirt came to a point.
Lois gasped out, "De--, Desire."
She felt his smile on her skin and then his head lifted. "See," he told her as his hands moved to frame her face. "Perfect." His lips claimed hers in a slow, deep kiss.
He was wrong, Lois thought as she kissed him back. This wasn't perfect. Perfect would have been this moment in a much more private setting. "We should go," she whispered between kisses. "We can't do this here."
"Do what?" Clark's body started a slow, seductive sway against hers.
Did he have any idea what it did to her when he held her like this? For over a month now they had been slowly inching closer and closer to the point of no return. Lois didn't think she could take it anymore. This had to be why it was called sweet surrender. Never before had she been willing to give up everything - body and soul - to someone else. Lois broke the kiss, gasping for air as her entire body started to shake with frustration because they were much too far away from her apartment.
Clark buried his face in her neck and raggedly said, "I need to tell you something."
Lois was already breathless and his words made her that much more dizzy as she realized he was about to confess he was in love with her. She tightened her arms around him and whispered, "Mmmm. Tell me."
Clark took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He raised his head and gave her a regretful smile. "No, you're right. We can't do this here." He took a reluctant step back, out into the rain, and held his hand out to her. "Your place?"
Lois didn't need any more encouragement than that. In an instant she had taken his hand and was flat-out running towards her apartment. She was so impatient to get back to kissing him that she grabbed him before her door was fully opened, pressing her body tightly against his.
Clark kissed her thoroughly as they stumbled inside her apartment. She pulled at his jacket, yanking it off his shoulders only to get it tangled on his arms when she tried to remove it entirely. Clark took over for her and peeled off his coat while she kicked the door closed and shed her own jacket. He sat down on her sofa with a laugh and patted the cushion next to him. That was a nice idea, but it wasn't going to be nearly enough for her. Lois sat on his lap instead.
"Now where were we?" she murmured as she leaned in to kiss him.
"We were… going to talk…," he answered between kisses.
Lois shivered, impatient to hear him say 'I love you'. She was sorely tempted to tell him exactly that, but she didn't want to go that far out on a limb if it turned out he was just marking time. She kissed his neck unable to get enough of the taste of his skin. "So talk."
"I, god, Lois--." His words turned to a groan as she nibbled on his earlobe.
"What?" she giggled, infused with a sense of power when she felt him tremble. "What's wrong?"
"You make it really difficult for me to think straight sometimes."
"You don't seem confused," she teased. He certainly didn't. Just like her, he knew exactly where this was leading. His hands had already started making tentative strokes beneath her shirt. He always started slow like this and she wondered if it was part of the thrill for him to have her insist they keep going.
"We… I…god… I need to talk to you."
"So talk. I'm not stopping you." She lightly stroked her fingernails over the back of his neck and gave him an inviting smile.
Clark made a sound that was half-groan, half-laugh. "You're distracting me."
"So show me. Words are overrated. Show me what you were going to say."
He considered it, then nodded. "I could do that." He sat up straighter, his expression no longer teasing. His hands moved to loosen his tie and her entire body quivered with anticipation. There was showing and then there was
showing. Show me you love me, Clark, she thought. Show me and I'll show you. If only he wasn't taking so damn long - was he actually hesitating?
"Let me?" Lois put her hand on his so she could take over for him.
He nodded, his eyes heavy-lidded with desire. His hand dropped; an invitation for her to continue. Lois had the distinct impression that both of them were on a precipice and she couldn't help wondering what was going to happen afterwards. But, damn, this was going to be worth it. She could tell just by the intensity of his expression as she unfastened the top button.
He licked his lips nervously. "I've wanted to tell you this for so long."
Happiness rippled through her. "Have you?"
Clark nodded again, his eyes closing as she loosed the second button. She could practically hear the words 'I love you' in the quiet rumble of his voice even though he wasn't actually saying them. Her hands started to tremble as she realized that she honestly, truly, absolutely loved him. God, she was in trouble.
Lois leaned forward and kissed his cheek, feeling his jaw flex beneath her lips as he made a muted little moan. "Maybe I already know what you're going to tell me," she whispered.
"Oh?" His fingers combed into her rain-damp hair, gently securing it away from her face so that he could see her clearly. "What is it?"
She shook her head and grinned at him. "You say it first."
He took a deep breath and she found it adorable that he'd be this nervous. She wanted to hug him, just to reassure him that his feelings were definitely going to be returned.
"It's probably not what you think." His hands smoothed over her hips and along her ribs in a soft caress.
Keep going, she thought as his fingertips drifted lightly past the side of her bra. Don't hesitate and especially don't stop. One of the sweetest, yet most frustrating, things about Clark was that he never assumed he could pick up where they had left off the last time they were in a clinch.
"You don't know what I'm thinking," she said coquettishly even as she wondered if she was really that obvious.
His hand cupped her cheek, tilting her head so their eyes met. "I can guess."
She shook her head and bent to nuzzle his jaw, enjoying the rasp of late-day stubble she found there. "You think you know me so well, Clark. But you don't."
He obviously wasn't feeling the same urgency that she was, so Lois decided it was time to encourage him a little. She took the tip of his finger in her mouth and gave it a playful nip. Clark let out a gasp and she couldn't help giving him a triumphant grin. Yeah, she knew him pretty well, too.
His thumb gently stroked across her lower lip. "Sometimes you wear bright red lipstick," he said in a husky whisper. "But you usually wipe it off and go with a more muted shade within an hour of putting it on."
She rewarded him with a kiss, happy to know that he was paying such close attention to her mouth. "Oh yeah? What else?" she demanded.
"You claim you drink your coffee black, but you add two sugars when you think no one is watching."
Lois made a face at him. "You're not exactly wowing me with your powers of observation. Any half-decent stalker would know those things."
He seemed to consider that for a moment and then he said, "Ah, but only a first-rate stalker would know that you start out sleeping on the left side of the bed, but by morning you're hogging the whole thing."
Surprised, she could only gape at him. "How do you know that?"
He shook his head and gave her a rakish grin. "Lucky guess."
Still thrown for a loop, she shook her head. "Nuh-uh. That's way too specific. Have you been stalking me, Clark?"
Clark laughed and caught her head between his hands, kissing her again until they were both breathless. "Admit it," he whispered when they came up for air. "I have excellent sources."
Teasing each other about having a better source was a long-standing inside joke between them. Lois gave him a delighted smile as their workaday game suddenly took on a new dimension. "Who's your source?"
He stroked her cheek. "That's kind of what I'm trying to tell you."
Lois giggled at that. She wasn't sure which one of them was more addled, but she was pretty sure that he had completely lost all sense of logic. She was quickly losing her ability to reason and that was entirely due to the pure need she could see in his eyes.
"Don't change the subject, Clark." She pulled free the knot of his tie and tugged the loosened article off before tossing it over her shoulder. Her fingers started to shake as she realized that she was undressing him and that soon - hopefully very, very soon - he'd be undressing her.
"I'm not changing the subject. I'm just, uh, I'm nervous." He kissed her again, deep and long.
Lois marveled at the thought of Clark - a world expert in innuendo and no slouch in the kissing department - being nervous. Her fingers had suddenly become too uncooperative so she gave up unfastening the next button and moved her hand to his cheek instead.
"We'll go slow," she whispered in what she hoped was a sultry tone.
His eyes closed and she saw him swallow reflexively. Then his body tensed and his eyes flew open.
"What's wrong?" she asked, worried that maybe he was changing his mind.
He shook his head and murmured, "Nothing," before gently, but oh-so decisively, kissing her again.
Was he really nervous? Or did he think she was? He needn't worry about that, she had never felt this blindly eager to continue before. All he had to do was say 'I love you' and then he'd see some real action. Instead of speaking, though, he tensed again.
"Wait." Clark shifted her off his lap and onto the cushion next to him. "Maybe we're going too fast?"
"Maybe we're not going fast enough?" she teased, starting to feel a twinge of anxiety that he was actually going to pull a Clark and leave.
Clark grabbed his jacket and stood up. He ran one hand through his hair as he started for the door. "Let's sleep on it," he suggested as he opened her front door. "This is a big step. I want you to be absolutely sure."
And then he was gone. After a couple of dazed seconds, Lois followed him to call him back but he had already disappeared. Had he literally run away? This was just like him, wasn't it? Here she was, ready to break every single one of her rules for him and he was fleeing into the night. Lois didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
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Saturday morning
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Lois still didn't know. Dr. Friskin was always asking her 'how does that make you feel?' and Lois never had an answer.
This tangle of euphoria and confusion was exactly why she avoided relationships. She had certainly known before she became involved with Clark that he was prone to running off. And yet that had not stopped her from falling for him so hard that it sometimes sent her into an ice cold panic.
Was he really nervous about taking the next step in their relationship? That couldn't be so - not when he wanted her to come spend a weekend with his family. Or had he rethought his offer? He certainly hadn't asked her a second time.
Damn Clark anyway for being so easy to fall for. Damn him for his smile, his sense of humor, and that way he had of making her feel like she was the center of his world - until something else came up. Damn him for being so hopelessly entangled in her life and in her heart that, no matter what, she was never going to get over him.
As another slender sliver of floor came up, Lois allowed herself a frustrated growl at how slow her progress was. She could get her hand and wrist through the hole now, but it was taking too damn long to widen the hole enough to escape. If there was a faster way to do this, it unfortunately was not occurring to her. Like a rat running through a familiar maze, her thoughts circled back to Clark.
Yes, she didn't have the best instincts when it came to men. Claude, Lex, Dan and host of other miscreants were testament to that. In each of those cases, though, there had always been, at the back of her mind, an unease; an unwillingness to let them completely in. Clark was the only man she actually trusted. He wasn't trying to conquer her. He was the only one who had ever put the brakes on or who had wanted her to be certain of her feelings before taking that step.
As the day wore on, Lois stopped occasionally for sips of water and a handful of popcorn. She was feeling more and more frantic as the hours passed; certain that, at any moment, her captor was going to check on her and she'd lose her chance at freedom. The edges of the blanket became torn and frayed and she couldn't help but wonder which one would give out first - the floor or the fabric.
The light from outside the car began to fade until she had no light left to work by. According to the now-cracked face of her watch, it was almost nine o'clock. The hole in the floor was barely wide enough to fit one of her legs up to the knee through it. No matter which angle she tried, she simply couldn't get more of her out than that. Lois was exhausted. Her muscles ached from exertion and the tension of her situation. Her arms were shaking with fatigue and her hands stung from the multiple slivers she had acquired.
Lois stood up and stretched her arms and back, hating that all she could do was wait for morning. She sat down against the wall and opened the bag of popcorn. She slowly ate a few handfuls, letting each individual kernel dissolve in her mouth so the meal would last longer. Then she washed it down with several sips of water. With her dinner completed, Lois picked up the large and jagged splinter she had decided to use as a weapon if her abductor returned. She wrapped what was left of the blanket around her and gave in to the exhaustion.
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Sunday morning
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There was a rumbling noise all around her and Lois sat upright in alarm, her hand tightening on her makeshift weapon. Then she realized that the noise was too loud to be a vehicle. The entire train car was vibrating; it had to be a train going by outside. Weak daylight was coming through the hole in the floor. Lois fumbled for her watch and saw that it was half past six o'clock.
She slowly pushed herself to an upright position and stretched, wincing as her muscles protested. Lois ate two handfuls of popcorn and took a very long drink of water. Then she returned to the tedious task of ripping up the floor.
It was almost ten o'clock when she had widened the floor enough to get the majority of both legs through. She stretched with her toes, but the ground was still too far away. She hoisted herself back inside, cursing her hips and swearing she would go on a no-corn diet if she ever got out of here.
Lois stood up and eyed the floor in disgust. She had developed an instinct for the boards. She could tell by the edges just how rotten or solid the board was and how difficult it was going to be to pry up. The boards remaining around the edges of her escape route were all looking to be far too unyielding.
Lois got back down on her hands and knees to take a closer look. She squinted at the end of the plank on the right side of the hole. It was possible that she might be able to work the blanket beneath the edge of the board. If she stood up to get enough leverage - and the blanket didn't tear - she might be able to pull it up in one piece.
It was worth a shot.
Her fingers shook with a barely-contained anticipation as she worked the blanket beneath the edge of a board. It fit! Her heart started to beat faster as she realized she might just get out soon. Lois stood up and stretched her arms and back, readying herself for a last-ditch effort. Then she gripped the edges of the blanket together and used all her weight to pull in the opposite direction. The wood made a small cracking noise as it started to give way. Grimly determined, Lois adjusted her grip on the blanket and leaned back with all the strength she had left. With a loud crack, the board came loose and sent her sprawling.
Giddy with joy, she shimmied through the hole in the floor and crawled from beneath the boxcar. Her eyes squinted, trying to adjust to the brilliant sunshine. The air outside was fresh and much cooler than it had been inside.
The track the train had gone by on earlier was running parallel to her left. On the right side of the unused line there was a dirt road. There was no sign of her abductor and no second train car in sight where Clark could be held hostage. The shiny new padlock holding the door to her prison shut sent a chill through her. She had to get away from this place - and she needed to do it quickly.
Lois crawled back beneath the boxcar and poked her head and shoulders through the hole in the floor to retrieve the blanket, the popcorn, and the half-empty jug of water. Then she clambered from beneath the boxcar a second time and stood up.
Which way to go?
She ruled out following the road. If her abductor came back, that was most likely where he'd be coming from. She didn't seem to be near an urban area so she guessed she was either north or west of Metropolis. With nothing around to guide her, she decided to go in the direction the train which passed her had gone. Eventually she would have to come upon civilization.
Hopefully that would happen before her kidnapper returned and found her missing.
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End 5/10
I've always loved Action!Lois best.
