Awww. How sweet! This story didn't go at all as I suspected it would when I first started reading it. I figured it would be an introspective piece on missing Clark, or Clark doing something romantic or sweet during his absence, or end up being a dream (due to that line about dreaming). Yet, once again, DC, you shifted course into this wonderfully waffy story about Clark's return.
How sad it was for her that there on Christmas Eve, she was once again alone, due to the fact that the Kents were snowed in (or at least the planes were).
Why, oh why, had she bothered to decorate the apartment?
"Because," she whispered to herself in the otherwise silent, still apartment, "it's his favorite holiday."
Awwww. This one lines shows how much Clark has impacted upon Lois's life.
After all, she wasn't celebrating the holiday this year, no more than Jonathan and Martha Kent were. Oh, they all pretended that they were in the Christmas spirit, but none of them were fooling anyone.
So true! I love this line. It perfectly describes how Lois feels in the first half of this fic.
For a brief moment, she wondered if it could be Steve, who lived on the eighth floor. He and his wife, Kim, had no children of their own, but had made it a tradition since they'd moved into the building five years before, to dress as Santa and Missus Claus and visit each of the apartments with young children. The parents usually slipped the two a gift for each child, for Santa to deliver on Christmas Eve, to spark the Christmas excitement and to tide the kids over until the morning. It was a cute tradition, Lois had to admit. But what could the two want with her? And at this hour of the night?
I love this tradition! What great neighbors! I truly hoped that Clark had left a gift for Steve to deliver to Lois. However, she wasn't the only one surprised by who she found on the other side of that door.
"Merry Christmas, Lois," came the reply as she abruptly cut off her own words.
Lois felt herself staring. For a moment, she was unable to speak. Then, finally, in a wobbly, untrusting voice, "Clark? Is that really you?"
"It's me. I'm home."
"Oh, God."
The words bubbled up as a sob. Her body sagged as her knees gave out. But Clark was right there, catching her in his arms, just as he always had. Together, they embraced, wordlessly taking in the moment of blissful reunion.
It's a dream. It has to be a dream.
"Why are you so cold? You don't get cold."
"No, I usually don't," he admitted as he followed her into the warmth of her apartment.
"Then...why?" Lois asked, concern flooding her.
"I walked here. There aren't any cabs out in this weather." He shrugged, as though it didn't bother him in the least.
Then, I thought that Clark had hired the Superman impersonator to visit Lois as Clark (although, then I thought, why would he do that?)
"Walked?" Lois asked. "But you can just...you know." She made their mutual gesture for flying.
"My powers aren't fully back," Clark said he hung up his sodden coat on a peg. He ran a hand through his hair, brushing out some of the half-melted snowflakes. "I haven't had much time to soak up the sunlight." He shrugged again. "It's not a big deal."
Why would Clark an impersonator these details? Nope, must be the real deal. (Back to 'it's a dream' theory.)
Anyway, I had to wrap your Christmas present before I came over." He gave her a grin.
LOIS: Oh, crap! I forgot to get Clark a gift!
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/midi/konfus/a050.gif)
Do you like frozen waffles? (BTW, how in the world did Lois ever survive without Super delivery service? I mean, it's Christmas Eve and she hasn't gone Christmas grocery shopping and the Kents were suppose to visit?)
Lois took the box and examined the outside for a moment. Then she gave him a teasing grin. "What is this? A New Kryptonian rock that says 'My fiancé went to New Krypton and all I got was this lousy paperweight?'" she ribbed him.
He's not that much of a lunkhead.
CLARK:
*moves gift behind his back and clears throat* No! Of course it isn't! Oh, my bad. This is Jimmy's gift.
(later) JIMMY: Um... Wow. Um... Thanks, CK. But this is the weirdest spelling of "friend" I've ever seen.
"Before Zara and I approached the Elders about dissolving our union, I used what power I had as their leader to make Ching a nobleman. I raised his status high enough to make his House a Ruling House. A minor one, to be sure, but it was enough."
CLARK: Well, Duh! Lois. He did kill Nor. Now that I think about it, he desecrated the man's body too. Maybe I was hasty on the whole knighthood thing.
*shrugs* Too late now.
He shook his head. "One thing I've learned? The Kryptonians aren't my people. Maybe they were, once, before I was sent to Earth. But not anymore. The people of Earth are my people.
This is why many of the stories in other shows and films puzzle me so. Clark may have been born on Krypton, but having been raised on Earth, he's an Earthling as much as anyone born here. It never made any sense to me why he wanted to bond with Kryptonians. Or why in SM: The Movie he always associated himself more as a Kryptonian than as an Earthling.
I'm glad they didn't go that route with MoS (even if he did bond too much with his hologram birth dad).
"I was thinking," Lois said after a moment. "All of this," she gestured vaguely, "has taught me something. I don't need the big wedding. I don't need all the...stuff...that goes along with it - all the things my mom's been harping on. The live doves, the bell ringers, the huge reception with the extended cocktail hour and the Viennese hour with seventeen different cakes. All that matters is that you and I start our life together, with a few close friends and our families there to witness our union. What do you think?"
Yea! Wait. What? "Viennese hour with 17 different cakes"? Is this a thing?
"This is the best Christmas of my life," she sighed in contentment.
Awwww! What a nice bouquet of Christmas Waff, DC!
