Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Once Bitten (19/?)

Clark took her hand and rose to his feet. "Thank you, Lois," he said. "Thank you for everything."

"Thank you for not running away," she said. "Thank you for giving me a chance."

He had to be honest. "I'm still scared."

"That's all right. I can be strong enough for both of us for a while." She squeezed his hand. "Let's go and find Diddi. I'm sure he'll have hundreds of ideas for fun things to do today."

"Fun?" The word tasted strange on his tongue.

"Yes. Fun. No pressure. No heavy decisions. Just three people enjoying the sunshine, the beautiful African rainforest, and the privilege of being together."

"OK," Clark agreed, taking a step and allowing Lois to lead him forward.

There was no sign of Romaric as they passed the shelter. Lois opened the gate, and Clark followed her through it, feeling as if he'd just sealed his destiny.

For better or worse, he was no longer Clark Kent, pseudo-American, husband of Lana, budding big-city reporter.

He was Kent ...

Pseudo-Bangala.

Still not with people of his own.

But with Lois.

And for now, nothing else mattered.


Part 19

Diddi stood at the door of the hut, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Where have you been, Maman?" he asked through a yawn.

Lois bent down to give him a hug. "Kent and I just went for an early morning walk," she said, taking her son's hand and guiding him into the hut.

Diddi leaned sideways to look out to the quarantine area. "Where's Kent? He didn't leave, did he?"

Lois applied some pressure to Diddi's hand, moving him away from the door. "No. There's just something he needs to do before breakfast."

"Is he washing?"

Lois forced a cheery smile. "Kent and I were talking about what we could do today. What do you think?"

Diddi touched her hip, checking for her medicine bag. "Did you collect herbs?" he asked, looking puzzled. "What did you need? Isn't Kent feeling well?"

"Kent's fine," Lois said, hoping it was the truth. "We just felt like a walk."

"Is Kent going to leave?"

"I hope he will want to stay."

"But he might leave?"

"We can't make him stay if he doesn't want to."

"Sometimes I think Kent is sad," Diddi said. "I think he doesn't like being with us. I think he wishes he was back with his tribe."

Lois crouched down to the boy's level. "Kent is sad sometimes," she said. "But it's not because he doesn't like being with us."

Diddi's dark eyes weren't convinced. "Really?"

"It's our job to help him make happy memories so he's not sad anymore."

"Is he going to move into the village after the quarantine's over?"

"I hope so."

"Can he stay in our hut? I can push my bed further away from yours. There'll be enough room."

"We still have two days of quarantine," Lois said. "We need to think of something fun to do today."

A smile broke through her son's concerns. "We could play soccer again. Or perhaps we can get a hoop." He swung around as Kent appeared in the doorway. "Can you play basketball, Kent? Maman told me that people from her tribe play basketball a lot."

Lois telegraphed a question: Have you hidden the truck?

Kent nodded to Lois. "I've played some basketball," he said to Diddi. "But it was a few years ago."

"Can you still remember how to play?"

Diddi's question brought a few specks of amusement to Kent's eyes. "I can probably remember enough," he said.

Diddi turned to his mother. "Can we play basketball? Please, Maman?"

"Maybe later," she said. "But we have to eat breakfast first. And you need to wash and change. The water barrel needs refilling, and the wood supply is getting low."

"It's too late to bathe in the river now," Diddi said. "Can we go to the swimming hole? Please, Maman?"

"We'll see," Lois said. She heard a call from the other side of the gate. "I think Tsumbu is here with our breakfast."

Diddi sprinted from the hut, and Lois turned to Kent. He looked dazed, almost as if he'd just awakened. Her doubts rose again. Had she done the right thing in insisting he know the specifics of her marriage?

He'd said her marriage had given him a safe environment.

Now, he knew it wasn't safe. He knew there were no moral or legal barriers to them being together.

That scared him.

And put her in a precarious position.

If she continued to offer her friendship and support, would it seem as if she were railroading him into something before he was ready?

Something he probably didn't want now and might never want?

But she couldn't pretend she didn't care. "Are you OK?" she asked.

He flinched as if her question had jolted him out of a crevice of contemplation. "Yeah," he said.

Lois stepped closer to him. "Kent, I'm worried that if I back away, you'll think I didn't mean what I said about not leaving you. But I'm also worried that every smile, every touch could feel as if I'm pushing you into something you might not want."

He shook his head. "I …"

"Help me here, Kent. Help me to help you."

He slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans, lifted his head, and drilled his soft brown eyes into her. "If we continue as we have been - you being so kind … understanding … compassionate … always being there for me - I will fall in love with you."

Lois gasped, stifling the urge to whoop in celebration. "Is that what you want?" she asked cautiously.

"A part of me wants it more than anything in the world."

"But another part can't stop thinking about how it's going to feel if it ends?" she guessed.

"I wish I could forget," he said with a weary sigh. "I wish I could move on."

"If you could forget easily, you wouldn't be the man I have come to know and respect."

"You promised you wouldn't leave me, but I can't promise you anything." He slid his hands from his pockets, raised them, and then let them hang by his sides. "Not yet. Maybe not ever."

Lois briefly squeezed his hand. "I haven't asked you to make any promises," she said.

"You …" He rubbed his hand across his jaw. "You deserve so much more than I can give."

"That's not your call to make."

"What if you find out I'm not the man you think I am?"

"I know there are things you haven't told me," Lois said. "Whatever they are, whatever your reasons, nothing is going to change who you are."

Kent grimaced, but said nothing.

Lois decided they had probed deep enough for now. "Is the truck ready?" she asked.

"No. The paint is still a bit sticky."

"It will dry faster as the air temperature increases," she said. "Did you hide it behind the hut?"

"Yeah."

"We'll keep Diddi away from there."

Kent nodded.

"How do you feel about leaving the quarantine area for a few hours?" Lois said, trying to sound casual.

"Are we allowed to?"

"As long as we don't go into the village," Lois said. Kent looked unsure. She lightly ran her hand down his arm. "Think about it over breakfast. We won't do anything you don't want to do."

He gave her a beseeching look. "Could you just choose something?"

Lois grinned. "I have the perfect plan," she said. "Come on; let's go and eat."

They gathered around the fire, Diddi talking nonstop about previous basketball games and how he was sure Romaric had a spare hoop in his hut and perhaps Kent would help fix it to a tall tree trunk.

Lois waited until her son drew breath, and then nonchalantly announced, "I have an idea."

"Really?" Diddi squealed. He turned to Kent. "My maman has the bestest ideas in the world."

"We can do this today or tomorrow," Lois said, wanting to prolong Diddi's rapt anticipation.

"Today!" Diddi exclaimed. "Let's do it today."

Lois laughed. "You don't even know what it is yet."

Diddi bounced his butt on the rock. "Tell us your idea, Maman," he said. "Please tell us."

"Well, if Kent feels up to a walk, perhaps we could take him to the miracle berries."

"Yes! That's a great idea, Maman!" Diddi reined in his excitement as he turned to Kent and said, "Are you able to walk a bit, Kent? It's not too far. We'll be there before lunch."

"I think I could manage -"

Diddi leapt up from his rock and threw himself at Kent with a big hug. "Thank you, Kent," he said. "This is going to be such fun. We can have a picnic. Gislane will give us food to take. And lemons. We must take lemons."

"What are miracle berries?" Kent asked when Diddi had unfolded from him.

Diddi turned to Lois, his cheekiest grin on display. "Let's not tell him, Maman," he said. "Let's make him wait until he can taste them for himself."

Lois glanced at Kent before answering. She could almost imagine there was a smile hovering around his mouth so she said, "OK, Diddi. We'll surprise him."

"I'll tell Tsumbu," Diddi said, beginning to move towards the gate. "Let's get him to ask Gislane for food. Let's -"

"Hang on, young man," Lois said. "It's too late to bathe in the river, but you're going to wash and put on a clean liputa before we go anywhere."

Diddi's groan was cut short by her slightly raised eyebrow. "Yes, Maman," he said.

"Kent and I want to finish our coffee," Lois said. "And Gislane has to eat her breakfast with Zephyrin before she can pack food for us. You need to finish your breakfast. I don't want to have to carry you if you get tired because -"

"You haven't had to carry me for a long time," Diddi said with mild reproach. But he sat on the rock and returned his plate to his knee. "Can we go past the swimming hole?" he asked. "Then we won't have to bathe when we get back."

"Maybe on the way home," Lois said.

"Can you swim, Kent?" Diddi asked.

"Yes."

"I can swim," Diddi announced proudly. "Romaric taught me."

Lois glanced across to the gate. She hadn't seen Romaric since she'd left the quarantine area in search of Kent, but she knew he would be aware that she had returned safely.

How was he feeling? Despite her marriage to Matymbou, had Romaric harboured dreams that her feelings for him might change one day? Had he hoped that if her laka-marriage to Matymbou were to end, it would be because the chief was giving his wife to Romaric?

Now, Romaric knew that wasn't going to happen. Had he suspected? How much had he gleaned from the other side of the gate?

Feeling his eyes on her, Lois looked at Kent. "You OK?" he mouthed.

She nodded. "Thanks."

Diddi dipped the last of his bread in the runny yolk on his plate. "Can I go and tell Tsumbu now?" he asked.

"When your mouth is empty," Lois said. He swallowed and looked at her expectantly. "OK," she granted.

Diddi sprang from the rock and ran towards the gate.

Kent cleared his throat. "Does Romaric know about … this?"

"How I feel about you?"

Kent's eyes dropped to his cup. "Yeah."

"I told him when I left the quarantine area earlier this morning."

"Is he going to be all right?"

"I hope so." Lois glanced towards the gate again. "I used to wish I could love him the way he deserves to be loved."

"Used to?" Kent croaked.

Lois nodded slowly. "Many times, I considered pretending. I didn't do it, because I knew I wouldn't have been able to convince Matymbou that my feelings for Romaric were real."

Kent's head slowly rose. "Could you have convinced Romaric?"

"I don't know. Perhaps he would have pretended he didn't suspect."

"Is Matymbou going to believe you now? About …" Kent paused, sucking in a quivery breath. "… us?"

Her heart did a pirouette at 'us'. "Yes," Lois said. "He'll believe me."

I'm not sure …"

They were getting bogged down again, so Lois seized the same escape route as before. "I can't wait until Diddi sees the truck."

Kent's faltering smile suggested he'd thought about that moment, too.

"I'm eager about a whole lot of things," Lois said. "I'm particularly excited about seeing your reaction to the miracle berries."

Kent's slightly quizzical look made her long for days of sunshine, unblemished by the clouds of the past. "Are you setting me up?" he said, his left eyebrow lifting adorably.

Lois pealed with laughter. "Only a little bit," she said through her giggles. "Only a little bit."

~|^|~

Clark was drying his chest when Diddi peeked around the amenities screen. When he saw Clark, he moved forward, one hand stretched out as he said, "This is for you."

Clark surveyed the long strip of fabric Diddi was holding up. "For me?"

"Yes. It's a liputa. You can't go on wearing just …" His eyes slithered down Clark's body. "What's that called?"

"Jeans."

"You can't go on wearing the same thing all the time. Maman makes me wear a clean liputa every day."

"Did your maman tell you to get new clothing for me?"

"No. I thinked of it for myself. But you were wearing that … the jean … when I first saw you and that was days ago."

Clark took the piece of fabric. It was surprisingly soft. "Is this Romaric's?"

"No. It's new. I asked Tsumbu to get the biggest one Nlandu has ever made. I can show you how to put it on if you want me to."

Clark held it up for examination. "It was kind of you to think of me, Diddi," he said. "But I'm not sure I'd be comfortable wearing this."

The boy looked disappointed, but recovered quickly. "Do you want me to ask Tsumbu to get some pants from Nlandu? Or do you only wear the jean?"

"Other pants would be good, Diddi. Thanks."

"Keep the liputa," Diddi said. "You might want to put it on when you go into the village."

Diddi ran away. Clark continued drying his chest.

He couldn't imagine ever wearing only a loincloth - not in front of Lois. But if every other Bangala man wore them …

He sighed. He was Kent, pseudo-Bangala, he reminded himself. Perhaps he was going to have to adjust.

~|^|~

Clark emerged from behind the amenities screen, holding his jeans in one hand and the liputa in the other.

Lois looked up from the bag she was packing. "Hey," she said. "You look great."

"Thanks," he said, feeling ridiculously self-conscious as he walked towards her.

Diddi had returned with some pants that looked and felt more like pyjamas than daywear. Clark hadn't had the heart to reject them, too, so he'd accepted them and put them on. He stopped next to Lois, unsure what to say or do.

"They fit well," Lois said, although her eyes stayed pinned to his face.

"Yeah."

"Diddi got you a loincloth?"

"Yes. But I asked him to get some pants instead."

She winced, and a flush of pink coloured her cheeks. "I should have asked what you needed. I'm sorry."

"You got me a shirt."

"That was …" She fidgeted with the bag straps.

"Did you ask Diddi to get more clothes for me?" Clark asked.

"No. I haven't said anything to him." She looked up, her eyes troubled. "I'm sorry, Kent. I messed this up really badly. I didn't think you'd feel comfortable wearing a loincloth. And washing your clothes would have meant you had to be wrapped in a towel while they dried. After the shirt, it seemed easier to say nothing."

Clark took a step closer. "You messed up?" he asked, fearing his tone conveyed just how absurd he found that suggestion.

She nodded, her eyes locked in his. Clark's hand rose, lured towards the softness of her pink cheek. He jerked it down and slid it against the pants in search of a non-existent pocket.

"I know I made you uncomfortable with the shirt," she said. "You did nothing wrong."

He'd come close to doing something wrong when they'd been bathing in the river. "I wondered if something in my behaviour … if something I did embarrassed you."

"No," she said quickly. "No. That …" She looked away. "That wasn't the reason I got the shirt."

Sudden comprehension rattled through his mind like an old train on a bumpy track.

Lois had gotten him the shirt because she liked looking at him.

Feeling hot colour rise into his cheeks, Clark could manage only a mumbled, "Oh."

"I should have got you what you needed before now," she said.

"Hey," he said with a slightly forced smile that he hoped would seem sincere enough to melt the awkwardness thickening between them. "I could have asked."

Lois smiled in return. "Now you have the pants, you can wash your jeans and hang them on the tree branches. They'll be dry when we get back. There's a large bowl behind the hut. Use water from the barrel."

"OK." Clark walked into the hut and hid the liputa under the bedcovers.

Lois had noticed him - not just as a medicine woman notices a patient, but as a woman notices a man. She'd gotten him a shirt - not because of anything he'd done, but because she had felt tempted to peruse his bare upper body.

Laughter burst from him.

The insight was startling.

But it wasn't entirely unpleasant.

Diddi skidded to a halt in the doorway. "Are you nearly ready to go, Kent?" he asked. "Maman has packed our lunch, and I have lots of lemons."

"OK. I just need to wash my clothes."

"Great," Diddi said, jigging impatiently as he spoke. "This is going to be the bestest day ever."

~|^|~

Lois walked a couple of steps behind Kent who, in turn, was a couple of steps behind a very eager Diddi. Kent had the lunch bag hanging from his shoulder, and Lois's bag contained soap and shampoo wrapped in towels, some spare clothes, and three lemons.

Diddi's voice piped through the trees, pointing out every little detail to Kent, just as Sylva had taught Lois, and Lois had taught Diddi.

She'd spent many carefree days roaming through the Congo rainforest. She loved being here. She loved the sights. The smells. The sounds.

Today was better than the best of her memories.

Because Kent being with them transformed them from a mother and son to a family.

Lois couldn't help smiling at her own leap into the future.

She knew Kent wasn't ready for anything like that. She knew he was still hurting. She knew that, despite his 'I will fall in love with you' declaration, he had a lot of healing to do before his heart would be able to love again.

But that didn't stop her from indulging in an occasional glance to his broad back.

He hadn't asked for a shirt.

That filled her with optimism.

It made her think he was beginning to feel more comfortable in his new surroundings; perhaps even less like a married man, less like a man committed to a woman on a far continent - a woman he would almost certainly never see again.

It made her think he was beginning to heal, beginning to move out from under the mountain of disillusionment that Lana had heaped on him.

It made her think he wasn't completely spooked by the realities of her, Lois's, marital status.

He still had a long way to go, she reminded herself. When she had held him this morning, she had felt wave after wave of pain emanating from him.

Her heart had been torn apart by his anguish.

But after their talk in the hut, he'd seemed to begin to relax. He'd smiled more - usually at something Diddi had said or done - and Lois had treasured each smile as a step forward.

She'd heard him laugh.

He'd gone into the hut with the liputa, and Lois had held her breath, wondering if he'd picked up on what she hadn’t been willing to admit.

But then, she'd heard him laugh.

It was such a beautiful sound. Made all the more special because she hadn't been expecting it.

She wasn't sure what had caused him to laugh - he'd been alone in the hut - but the reason didn't matter.

For the first time in at least five days, Kent had laughed.

And the memory of that filled her heart with sparkles of joy.

~|^|~

When the path widened a little, Clark slowed and allowed Lois to catch up. She looked up at him with a smile. "It's such a beautiful morning," she said. "Warm sun, cool breeze. It's the perfect day for a walk."

Clark nodded in agreement. "Tell me about the miracle berries."

"No," she said with a splutter of laughter.

"No?" he said, smiling so she would know her refusal hadn't offended him.

"No," Lois repeated. "I don't want to spoil the surprise for you."

"You're a medicine woman, and they're miracle berries. Are they food or medicine?"

"Food."

"We eat them?"

"That's the plan."

Ahead of them, Diddi giggled, but he didn't comment and he didn't look around.

Lois looked up at Clark, and they both smiled, sharing the enchantment of a child's delight.

How many times had he dreamed of days like this? Sure, he could not have imagined this setting, but the essentials were here.

Woman. Child. Family. Love.

The feeling of belonging permeated his being.

Lois touched his arm. "I'm really proud of you," she said in a lowered voice. "I know this must make you ache with longing for what you've lost. You're doing really well."

"Thanks," he murmured. But he didn't vocalise the rest of his reaction to her statement. He wasn't aching with longing for Lana and the child growing inside her. Lana would never have traipsed bare-foot through the jungle. Lana would never have been comfortable with her hair gradually working loose from braids that were at least four days old. Lana rarely smiled, and when she did, it was a tight closed-off effort that seemed more like a grimace that an expression of joy.

The cloak of despair lifted again, and this time, Clark didn't haul it back.

He searched his mind for a topic that didn't involve Lois's marriage. "I've noticed you seem to enjoy writing," he said.

Her stride faltered for a moment. "Yes."

Her slight hesitation fired his curiosity. "What do you write?"

"Ah … just something I'm working on," she said, her eyes fixed ahead on Diddi.

"A story?" he said. "Like fiction? Or a newspaper report?"

"I began writing to give future anthropologists something to puzzle over," she said with a flash of her smile.

"So it's like a journal?"

"I have recorded some of my experiences with the Bangala people."

"That's wonderful. Perhaps I could read your work sometime."

She coughed again, and her colour deepened. "I don't really -"

In front of them, Diddi stopped and turned around. "You could go to her lit … litter … story group, Kent," he said.

Lois's face had turned the most captivating shade of pink. "A literary group?" Clark asked.

"It's hardly a group," she said. "It's just a couple of women getting together."

"They laugh a lot," Diddi said. "Sometimes I can hear them from my hut when I'm in bed." He continued walking, leaving Lois and Clark to follow him.

"Do the women in your group share their stories?" Clark said.

"No," Lois replied. "I'm the only one who writes. I've encouraged the others, but they seem content to listen."

"Perhaps that's an indication of your ability as a writer," he said, wondering if she'd been an author back in the US.

"I think it's more an indication of their enjoyment of getting together," Lois said.

"What sort of stories do you write? Do you write about the life you knew back in America?"

"No," she said. "Although there were some good things about my life then, the violence and corruption and injustice are what I remember most. I don't want to write about those things."

"So what do you write about?"

"People."

Clark grinned at that. "I imagine it would be really hard to write a story with no people."

"I think you're right."

"What happens to these people in your stories?"

"Life things."

"What sort of life things?"

"Pain and loss and hope and triumph and love."

"Love?"

"Sure. Love for family. Love for children."

And love between a man and a woman? The sort of love she didn't have with her husband. Clark didn't want to ask directly, so instead, he tried to read her face. But her attention was fixed ahead.

"We're here, Maman," Diddi called. "I can see the bushes. And there are lots and lots of berries." He spurted forward, down a little hill and up the other side.

Clark jumped ahead and held back a tree branch for Lois to pass.

"Thanks," she said, looking at him again. "Are you ready for your first experience of miracle berries?"

"I think so. I don't know what to expect."

"You'll see." She skipped up the incline to where Diddi had already picked a handful of the berries.

He held out his hand to Clark, showing him the red berries, similar in size to large grapes, although flatter in shape, like olives. "Have some Kent. But be careful; they have a pip." To demonstrate, Diddi turned his head and spat out a pip, giggling as it flew a few yards away. "Let's see who can shoot the pip the furtherest."

Clark took one of the berries from Diddi and examined it. As he slowly lifted it to his mouth, he noticed that Diddi and Lois were watching him, both grinning.

He bit into the soft flesh, preparing for an explosion of flavour.

The taste was bland.

Clark eyed Lois and Diddi again. They were both still grinning. Lois took two berries from the bush and put them into her mouth. "Suck on them, Kent," she said.

He did, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did. The taste didn't change, remaining insipid.

Clark swallowed, shooting unspoken enquiries at his companions as he removed the pip from his mouth and tossed it away. Enquiries that only made them laugh harder.

"Have some more," Lois said, picking some from the bush and offering them to him.

He took them and slipped two into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed the flesh, and removed the pips. "There has to be something more," he mused. Then, glancing at Lois, he added, "But I'm not sure if the surprise is going to be a pleasant one."

Lois glanced at Diddi who was enthusiastically sucking on the berries and then firing pips from his mouth.

"I guess you wouldn't let your son eat them if the effect was too unpleasant," Clark said.

"I wouldn't let you eat them, either," she said.

"OK," Diddi announced. "Time for the lemons."

Lois opened her bag and took out a bright yellow lemon. She cut it into wedges and offered one to Diddi. With a wide grin, Diddi licked the flesh of the lemon and then squeezed some juice into his mouth.

Clark winced. "Do African lemons taste different than American lemons?" he asked.

"No," Lois replied, giving him a wedge. "Try this."

Copying Diddi, Clark licked the lemon.

It tasted sweet! Just like the lemonade his mom had used to make.

Lois burst out laughing.

Clark lifted the lemon and squirted juice into his open mouth.

It was deliciously sweet.

"It's the berries," Diddi said, jumping excitedly. "They make sour taste sweet."

"For how long?" Clark asked Lois.

"About half an hour," she answered.

"And then?"

"And then the lemons will taste just like lemons again."

"That's amazing," Clark said as he bit into the pale yellow flesh. It tasted as if someone had poured sugar through the fibres.

"Yep," Lois said, watching him. "With miracle berries, you experience something as sweet even though it should taste sour."

"So they turn bitter into sweet?"

"Yes."

Clark lowered his mouth towards her ear. "I didn't need berries for that to happen," he said, just loud enough for her to hear.

Her smile trembled, and her eyes leapt into his as moisture gathered along her eyelids. "Aw, Kent," she murmured. Her fingertips rested on his arm, pooling the warmth just under his skin.

Clark wiped his other hand on his pants and reached over to brush away the teardrop in the corner of her eye. He ran his finger down her soft cheek as belief infused his heart.

Maybe forever wasn't impossible.

But he only wanted forever if he could spend it with Lois.