Thanks again to everyone for being so supportive. Comments appreciated. I hope to post tomorrow and then Friday but semester ends next week and I have lots of stuff to get done :p ~~~~~~~~
Thanks!
CM
From Part 3:
Clark flopped back onto the blanket, his eyes following her every move, unable to help but notice that her shirt was a bit tighter than she'd probably like it in the front – every curve visible to him.
He could hear mumbled curses under her breath as she tried to finish tucking it in. With an exasperated sound, she finally gave up and untucked it all together so it hung loose over the voluptuous breasts he'd caressed just a moment before.
She walked towards the ladder, not speaking till just before she started down. "I'm sorry, Clark. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I'm sorry I let things get so out of hand." She paused and it sounded as though she was going to say something else, but she left without another word.
*****
Part 4
*****
Lois sat on the swing under the oak tree. She had grabbed a blanket before she left the barn and wrapped it around her to ward off the chill of the February night. She pulled her knees into her chest and let the breeze push the swing for her.
She loved Max.
She knew she did.
So why had kissing Clark make her forget everything but him?
She had yearned for him to touch her, to cradle her in his arms, pull her to him. She had felt physical pain waiting for his kiss. The feel of his strong body so close to hers stirred some memories in her but there was no one for her but Max. No one. Her mind kept telling her that over and over, but her body had rebelled, responding to his every touch.
It was dark where she was sitting, but the moon illuminated most of the yard. She watched as Clark exited the barn and walked towards the fence surrounding a paddock.
She watched as he stood still for a moment, then put both arms in the air. Her heart stopped, literally, as he rocketed into the sky.
What in the world?
She stared after him then stood and walked to where he had been, her eyes never leaving his track in the sky.
Footsteps crunched in the snow behind her.
Jonathan's husky voice broke the still air. "Beautiful night, isn't it?"
"He... He... flew."
"I expect he did."
"But he flew."
"He does that on a regular basis."
"But... but... how?"
"You're a smart woman, Lois. I bet you can figure it out."
She was silent for a few minutes. "The only person who can fly is Superman."
"As far as I know."
"So..." She was having a hard time wrapping around the idea that had formed in her head. "Superman is Clark?" She shook her head as though trying to get rid of some cobwebs.
"Well, he'd say 'Clark is Superman'."
"What's the difference?"
Jonathan laughed. "That's what we'd like to know. It drives Martha nuts when he talks about himself in the third person, but to Clark the distinction is very important. Clark has existed since he was born. Clark is the one who grew up here, who works at the Daily Planet, who married you. Superman is..."
Lois interrupted him. "Superman is the cardboard cutout, the action hero, the impersonal persona that allows him to have a life outside the suit. Clark is who he is, Superman is what he can do." /How did I know that?/ The thought crossed her mind, as she tried desperately to recall things that seemed just out of reach.
"Something like that."
Lois walked to the fence. "So he did come to see me more often."
Jonathan opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, deciding that Lois was just thinking out loud.
"Superman said that he was always watching over me, even when Clark couldn't be around." She turned to face him. "Why couldn't Clark be around more? Martha said 'someone'..." She made quote marks in the air. "... told him not to. Told him to stay away, to put away all personal reminders of us. Who told him that?"
"Um... well... he never said specifically..."
Her voice took on a warning tone. "Jonathan Kent, tell me who told him to stay away!"
Jonathan laughed.
She looked irritated. "What?"
"Lois, you're sounding more and more like yourself every minute."
"So who was it?"
Jonathan sighed. "It was Deter. He told Martha and me that we couldn't see you either."
"Why would he do that?" Lois was genuinely puzzled. "He's my doctor. Why wouldn't he want me to see Clark, my fiancee – we thought – or my almost in-laws?"
"I don't know, Lois. Why would he? You've done stories on psychiatrists before. You worked with him, what do you think?"
Lois started walking slowly, one gloved hand clutching the blanket around her and the other trailing along the top of a fence. Jonathan walked a couple feet to one side of her, there if she needed a sounding board or someone to ask a question, but far enough away to give her the space she needed.
Lois thought about everything that had happened in the short time she had been under Max's care. Had he ever behaved oddly around her?
Well, he had sent her flowers. That was odd. Dr. Friskin certainly would never have done that.
Dr. Friskin.
She remembered Dr. Friskin. She remembered talking to Dr. Friskin when she was confused about Dan and Clark and Superman. She must not have known that Clark was Superman.
"Jonathan, did I know that Clark was Superman?"
"Yes."
"How long have I known?"
"Since he proposed, almost a year ago now."
"Hmmm..." So she hadn't seen Dr. Friskin when she knew who Clark really was. Had she had any kind of relationship with Dr. Friskin, except for a couple of visits when she didn’t know who she really wanted?
No, she'd never seen Dr. Friskin outside the office, and Lois had noticed that there had always been a professional distance between them.
Max hadn't done that. He had insinuated himself into her personal life. Come to think of it... It was very unprofessional of him to have any kind of personal relationship with her.
And why did she have an urge to move to France?
She'd never wanted to move to France before. Clark had taken her once. They'd dined in a little bistro and they'd gone to the top of the Eiffel Tower. They'd stopped in Switzerland to get some chocolate on the way back.
She stopped dead in her tracks.
Jonathan looked at her, concerned. "What is it, Lois?"
"I remember."
"What?"
"I remember Clark flying me to Paris for dinner one night." Her brow furrowed as she wracked her brain. "But that's it, nothing else."
"It'll come back to you."
She started walking again. "I seem to do my best thinking when I walk."
"Clark's said that about you. That you've about worn a path in the carpet in his apartment."
"He really loves me, doesn't he?" Her voice was soft in the crisp night air.
"More than life itself, Lois."
"He kissed me earlier."
"I don't doubt it. The mistletoe was still in the hayloft, wasn't it?"
Lois blushed as she remembered where the kiss had started to lead.
"I felt something when he did."
"Electricity? You two have enough electricity to light Metropolis, Lois. You always have, even before you were a couple."
She nodded. "So why do I think Max is the only one for me?"
He shook his head. "I can't answer that, Lois."
She thought back over the last couple of days. Clark had said something... /That's enough, Deter. You were told explicitly not to see her anymore and now you're brainwashing her?/
Brainwashing?
Could it be true?
She had brushed the comment aside earlier, knowing Clark couldn't have heard what was going on in the room, but now that she remembered Clark was Superman... Could he have been listening in on her session with Deter? She didn't even realize that her thinking had shifted subtly. He wasn't Max anymore, he was Deter.
The thought should make her mad, but somehow it comforted her that he was looking out for her.
/You love only me./
She could hear Deter's voice in her head.
"That scumbag!" She stopped dead in her tracks.
"Excuse me?"
"Deter brainwashed me! I remember! He hypnotized me and told me that I loved no one but him." She snorted. "Yeah, right. I'll show him what love is."
"You remember something that happened under hypnosis?"
She shook her head. "I do. That's kind of odd, isn't it?"
Jonathan shrugged.
"Well, Clark interrupted the session and I came out of it rather suddenly... maybe that's why?"
"Could be." He started walking again as she did. "Anything else coming to you?"
She shook her head. "Not yet." A yawn interrupted her. "I think I'm ready to head back. I've had enough for one night."
They turned and headed towards the farmhouse. There was a streak in the night sky and a boom as Clark returned to Kansas.
They were nearing the porch when Jonathan stopped. "Lois, before we go in... I want you to know that we love you. Martha and I think of you as our daughter and no matter what happens, we're always here for you."
Lois nodded and stepped in to give him a hug. "I know, Jonathan. Thank you. You've been more of a father to me the last couple years than my own dad, and I love you for it."
He kept one arm around her as they headed up the walk. "Dang wind on a cold night." He cleared his throat gruffly and swiped at his face with the back of his hand. "Wreaks havoc on your eyes."
Lois chuckled softly and then her feet suddenly went out from underneath her.
Her last conscious thought before she struck her head was that it was happening again.
*****
TBC
