Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK - Wrong Clark (181/???)

“EPRAD,” Clark murmured against the top of her head.

Lois had been enjoying the feel of Clark’s chest against her ear; she hadn’t realized he had spoken. “Hmmm.”

“The assistant to the director of EPRAD called me this morning,” he repeated, pulling back enough to lean up against the wall and look Lois in the face. “They wanted to thank me for all the work that we put into clearing Professor Daitch, EPRAD, and Superman’s names from blame for the Nightfall scandal. I told them they should really be calling you.”

“You helped,” she admitted. “You never gave up on that story.” Although she realized he really couldn’t abandon it with LNN skewering Superman’s reputation on a daily basis.

“You got the ball rolling,” Clark said. “You knew that something was wrong and you followed that hunch to discover what. Anyway, the director of EPRAD offered… you an exclusive interview.”

“You mean he offered it to you,” she corrected with some bitterness.

“Yes, initially,” he said. “But I told him that you deserved it more than me. Besides, I’ll be in Las Vegas with Jimmy.”

Lois crossed her arms and stared at him. “You’re still going?”

“Jimmy’s been offered two days and nights at a hotel on the Strip in exchange for an interview about being Lex Luthor’s scapegoat for the Daily Planet bombing. It includes airfare for two. He grabbed it. I’m sure you would too after two months in jail for a crime you didn’t commit.”

She shrugged.

“He was going to take Jimbo, but after they saw me and heard about me being…” Clark coughed. “— beaten up and mugged, they both decided that I should go in Jimbo’s place. You want me back out?”

“You said ‘yes’ without consulting me,” Lois stated.

The muscle in his jaw twitched. “I didn’t realize I needed your permission,” he returned.

Lois took a breath to calm her racing heart from that backhanded slap across her face. “I thought we were a couple,” she said softly. “I thought we’d finally have time for us. I thought we would make these kinds of decisions together.”

“Lois, we are a couple, but I can’t run every decision I make past you. If this investigation wasn’t over, if we had gone ahead with our escape plan for you, we still wouldn’t be together for several days,” he reminded her. “All I’m going to do is spend two days sitting by the pool soaking up as much sunshine as possible, and then I’m coming home. Two days!” Clark flung out his hand in exasperation. “I can get that better out in Las Vegas than I can from my patio, here, in Metropolis.” He lowered his voice. “You know how important sunshine is to my healing.”

“Yes, but…”

“This is about me recovering faster,” he said. “This isn’t about us.”

“By not including me in the decision making process, or even considering whether I might want to come with you or would want you here with me, you made it about us,” she replied. He had made it about them because he hadn’t thought of her at all.

Clark briefly closed his eyes and exhaled a deep breath. “You’re right, Lois. I’m sorry. Do you want to come to Las Vegas with us?”

With us?

“No,” Lois said, straightening her shoulders. She didn’t want to be invited like this. He should want to take her on a trip, not be forced to do so. Was it too much to ask for to want her boyfriend to automatically think of her when contemplating an impromptu trip to Las Vegas? “You weren’t wrong when you said I have things to clean up here in Metropolis.” She relaxed her stance enough to place a hand on his chest and felt the slight tension her touch brought him. Something had changed him. She only wished she knew what. It couldn’t have just been the exposure to Kryptonite. He had lived through that before. “Possibly you’re right, Clark. Maybe we do need some time apart to think about what we really do want.”

Perhaps some time apart would remind him why he didn’t want to be away from her.

He placed his hand over hers. “I want you, Lois. That will never change.”

Lois closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest, wishing she could believe him. He was saying most everything she wanted to hear, saying all the right words about loving her, but something in his tone rang hollow, as if he were trying to convince himself that she was really what he wanted.

She missed him already as if he were already gone.

“I love you,” she whispered, so softly she didn’t know if he could hear her without his extra sharp hearing.

“I really do like this haircut, Lois,” Clark said, and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll call you tonight, and give you the number of the hotel. I promise you, when I get back, we’ll have that talk.”

Lois wouldn’t be holding her breath. Promises weren’t to be believed until followed through upon. She had learned enough from men to know that. She had hoped that Clark would be different. It turned out he was an All American Male after all.