There are few things in life as depressing as a cheap motel room when you're too tired and worried to sleep. Martha looked around the threadbare room in disdain and wished they had just stayed in the hospital waiting room. This room, which was the best they could do on short notice, was grimy, small and reeked of decades of stale cigarette smoke.
Heh. I rarely stay at hotels, I can't afford them, but if I have to stay at one, it had
better be better than that one! Geeez!! And I'm very much a non-smoker, and these days, when smoking is forbidden in all public places indoors, my tolerance for cigarette smoke grows less and less. (Can you smoke in hotels in Sweden, at least in some rooms there? I've no idea.)
Anyway, I just wanted to say that this description reminds me of the first school I worked at, Söderslättsgymnasiet in Trelleborg in 1980. Back then, smoking indoors was certainly allowed, certainly in the staff rooms for teachers. I remember one such room in particular. I'm sure there must have been mould in that building somewhere, because it definitely smelled like that, and then several of the teachers who used to sit there smoked like chimneys. You can't believe what the combination of mould and stale smoke smelled like in the morning (insert retching icon here). And it never took long before one of the chain-smoking teachers came in, smelled the air, uttered an expletive, condemned the foulness of stale smoke, and promised anyone in the room that he or she would immediately freshen up the air by exhaling some
fresh cigarette smoke on us! Whereupon the teacher in question promptly lit up!
She had known for several months that Superman could be made vulnerable. Why was it so much worse to know that it was Clark who was hurting? It was Clark watching her with anxious eyes, his face pale and tense.
This is beautifully written. Lois admires and idolizes Superman, but she loves and cares for
Clark. I think that is because Superman is per definition invulnerable, untouchable, indestructible, not only physically but emotionally too, or at least that is how Lois has seen him. Clark, on the other hand, is human like the rest of us and feels what we feel, or that is what Lois thinks of him. His eyes are warm and teasing, while Superman's is heroic and far-seeing. Of course that makes it so much worse if Clark is hurt than if Superman is injured.
Had her subconscious figured out his secret ages ago? There were so many hints she had let slide. So many lame lies that she hadn't questioned. Was it because it had been so much easier to love the fantasy than to risk her heart on reality?
You may be right here, but you know me, Sue - stubborn as a mule. All I can see that Clark lied to Lois and if he wanted to tell her he should have
told her, not dropped hints. I refuse to see it as Lois's fault that she didn't figure out his secret! *stamps foot*
How ironic was it then that she had inadvertently married the superhero she had been chasing for two years? Wasn't this just her luck? She'd had the chance to sleep with him last night and she had locked herself in the bathroom instead.
Wow, yes. That was ironic. Only now I think Lois has figured out that she would much rather sleep with
Clark than with Superman if she got the chance to live the past few days all over again. (Never mind that they are the same guy. Now that Lois knows that the two are one, she can also see that they aren't
really the same.
Hmmm. I do think it is nice that she thinks about the possibility that was so perfectly within her grasp, but that she let slip.
Her mind reeled, remembering every touch, every look, every smile that Clark had ever given her. She had enjoyed them simply because they came from Clark - it was odd to think that they were from Superman. Actually, it was downright strange to realize that it was Superman she stole fries from at lunch, Superman's pens that she borrowed and never returned, Superman whom she had goaded into spending fifteen hundred dollars to fly to Las Vegas. It was Superman who was slowly bleeding to death in front of her.
No - she gave herself a mental shake. It was Clark. It was Clark she was going to lose if she didn't do something to help him. It was Clark who had kissed her last night. It was Clark she hadn't been able to leave behind in the mine.
She might not have been able to leave Superman behind either, but that would have been out of a sense of civic duty. She couldn't leave Clark because he was
Clark, and she couldn't imagine her life without him.
"Say something," Clark pled anxiously. She had been staring at him, her eyes darting between his face and the Suit, and the pain of waiting was becoming equal to that of the bullet buried inside him.
I'm quoting this just because - yes! He has already been shot. No need to shoot him again, Sue!
She wouldn't meet his eyes and he flushed, hating that she had learned the truth this way.
Oh, Mr. Feel-Sorry-For-Himself because Lois found out his secret. Tell me, Clark. When had you
really planned to tell her?
Lois turned away from him, looking at the stark landscape outside as she tried not to hear the soft grunts and groans that he made as he struggled. Should she help him? No - what if he wasn't wearing anything beneath the Suit? Her cheeks grew hotter as she remembered the countless times she had daydreamed about what was under the Suit. Last night the answer had been right there beneath her questing hands.
Love some of the words you are using here, Sue. "Stark" - to me that is a word that symbolizes something harsh, sometimes beautiful, but usually lifeless. There is certainly none of the messes that living things make in anything that is stark. Grunts and groans, though - they are so totally associated with life. Not life in any of its most beautiful aspects, but life, most certainly. In this case, the grunts and groans are made by a living being that is as attractive as anything that Lois can think of, and she could have touched him, caressed him last night, if she hadn't been so stupid. "Her questing hands" - that's a beautiful expression, too.
Lois turned to see the Suit lying in a small heap next to him. The outfit was much smaller than she thought.
I love this. The outfit itself is small. It looks big because of the sheer stature, physical and mental, of the man who wears it.
"Helicopter."
Lois had recognized the sound only a second or two before Clark spoke. "It's not a rescue, is it? They're the only ones who know we're out here. Did we leave footprints?"
"I don't know."
Horror!!!
Wonder, though, why the badguys are
so desperate to find them? They should know that Lois and Clark are both injured, and that their chances of survival in the desert are small. Okay, I guess Mickey and his goons might be implicated if Lois and Clark's bodies are found, and possibly also if these relatively well-known reporters just disappear. Anyway, I wonder what it is that Micky is hiding. What was it that Lois was about to discover about him?
They scooped it in their hands, licking the drops from their fingers. The water tasted awful and left grit in their mouths. There wasn't more than a couple of swallows for either of them and it was almost worse to have been teased with a scant amount of liquid than to have had none at all.
Eeeeww, disgusting....
Over the long, hot day the helicopter passed over them several more times.
They are
that desperate?
She watched Clark's shadowy figure apprehensively. Was he still bleeding? How bad off was he? Did they dare to leave their hiding place? Did she even dare to talk to him? What do you say to your best friend when you find out their deepest, darkest secret?
His deepest, darkest secret... come on, Lois! It's not as if you have just discovered that Clark is an axe murderer.
At this point he would gladly trade his powers forever if he could have just had them back for another ten minutes.
I'm so moved by this somehow.
His mind went over and over the chain of events and he loathed himself for allowing Lois to get hurt. There were so many things he could have, should have, would have done differently. He could have freed them from the back of the truck. Truthfully, if he had known that Mickey was out in the hall, he would have just flown her out the window of the hotel and dealt with the consequences later.
Wow, Clark. You would have revealed your powers to Lois rather than having both of you dying in the desert? Excuse me for being underwhelmed. (Okay, Mickey would almost certainly have found out about your powers too, and that would definitely have been a bigger deal.)
The lack of sunlight had left him feeling weaker and weaker as the day wore on. He knew that the continued loss of sunlight might prove to be fatal for him. But if he stayed in the sun, he could be spotted. And that would mean endangering Lois.
I love how he's thinking of Lois here.
"I left your jacket at the mine," Lois said ruefully. It hurt too much to try and hug herself for warmth and she was exhausted from the pain.
"I'll just run back and get it for you," he answered.
She left out a soft snort. "Thanks. I'll wait here."
This is lovely. They can still joke.
They listened to the breeze for a few minutes and then Lois said, "Hey, Clark? Those big round cactuses?"
"Cacti," he muttered.
:rolleyes:
She rolled her eyes and kept talking. "Couldn't we break one open with a rock and get water?"
"No." He shifted, stretching his injured leg out in front of him carefully.
"No? Oh, come on. Why not?"
"Lois, those are barrel cactus. It's a myth that they're filled with water. They actually contain an alkali slime that would kill us faster. We'd get diarrhea, which would dehydrate us even more. Plus it would drop our core temperature and then we'd get hypothermia."
She let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't you ever get tired of knowing everything?"
He
is rather annoying here.
"I don't know everything," he said, unsure just how rude she had meant that to sound. He supposed he should take comfort in the fact that she was treating him like Clark and not Superman. It didn't mean that he couldn't miss the hero worship just a little though.
:rolleyes:
"I can hear your teeth chattering. We should share."
"All right." Clark had been hoping she would suggest it. She might be upset with him, but shared body heat was one way to ensure that she lived to make his life miserable later.
That's so funny!
Lois stared at the vast blanket of stars above them and wondered which was his.
Chances are it was Alpha Centauri, Epsilon Eridani or 61 Cygni. They are nearby, and I just can't believe he could travel more than a few light-years if he were to survive the trip. Wonder if he knows himself which star is his, though?
Anyway... I love the image of the two of them lying on the ground in the desert side by side, sharing his cape and looking at the stars. Wow... I bet the stars are amazingly bright out in the desert, so far from towns and people and artficial illumination.
It was staggering to realize that Clark wasn't from here. He had come from out there. Her partner was an alien. She'd always thought of aliens as little green men. They weren't supposed to have broad shoulders and smile that could stop you in your tracks. Aliens were supposed to have cold, dead eyes and scaly skin. Clark was the absolute opposite of everything she had considered "alien".
Pssst, don't tell anyone, but this may be the one thing I find hardest to accept about Superman - that he looks
perfectly human, even though he is an alien. Consider how different we humans actually look here on Earth. We do, honestly.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.fotoposters.de/Afrika/People/ca-ap-004/MASSAI_4_GV.jpg)
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![[Linked Image]](http://www.uta.fi/festnews/fn2005/sunnuntai/kuvat/aimone.jpg)
How come Clark can look not only perfectly human, but perfectly beautiful according to most of our ideas of perfect beauty? When he's from another planet, light-years away? It boggles the mind.
But... all right, all right...
I want him to look perfectly human and beautiful, too. I'll just have to try to tell myself that this is perfectly normal somehow.
"How did it happen? Did your parents on Krypton know who they were sending you to? Had they worked something out?"
"No, not really. They knew I would land in Kansas
They knew he would land in Kansas??? And they took aim a coupla light years away???
(Sorry - being an astronomy nerd sometimes gets in the way when I'm reading these stories. Forgive me, Sue!)
"What? Lois, why would I hate you?"
"I was such a brat. Worshipping Superman and snubbing you. Does it help that I've been nicer lately? I mean, I wanted to date you. And I've always respected you."
He let out a short laugh even though it hurt to do so. "Liar. You hated me at first."
"I didn't hate you," she said defensively.
"You disliked me."
I can't help it, I love how they start arguing after she has tried to apologize for her behaviour! Suddenly Clark can see why he has a reason to be angry at her!
"You were so squeaky clean - it made me suspicious. And you were irritating. You acted so naïve and yet you stole my stories and you were mean to me."
"Mean? I was never mean to you! And what stories did I steal? You were the one who stole my stories."
"I might have stolen one little story from you. But you took several of mine. The one about the theater. And the space shuttle? The Toasters? And what about the time you..."
He stole your story about the theater, Lois? The one you weren't in the mood to write?
"Okay," he cut in. "But I was never mean to you."
"The sewage reclamation plant? How about telling the entire newsroom that I was dancing in a chicken costume? Throwing in me in that disgusting dumpster? And..."
"You win," he sighed. "I was terrible to you."
Yeah, when you put it that way, he was!
Lois was silent for several seconds and then she sighed. "We both were. We were both awful to each other, just in different ways."
"Will you forgive me?" he asked.
He sounded so sad and she realized that he still thought she was upset over finding out he was Superman. For a moment it was tempting to tease him and tell him that he was going to owe her. Only she owed him, didn't she? How many times had he saved her life? Even now, he was being nice about the fact that she had been so blind and stupid for far too long.
"I guess I'd better," she answered. "Don't they say that you shouldn't go to bed angry at each other?"
Clark smiled. "Yes, they do."
Oh, how sweet. I love this, Sue!
A few minutes of silence passed as she watched the stars and then she said, "I'm not angry, Clark. In fact, I kind of have to admire you for being able to hide it for so long. Please tell me it wasn't easy to do."
Please tell her she wasn't galactically stupid!
"Is it so bad, being adored by the whole world?"
"Not everyone adores me."
"I did."
He felt a pang at her use of the past tense. "I know you did."
Poor Clark. he often feels so worthless in Lois's eyes after his secret has been exposed.
She heard the longing in his voice and added, "I still do, you know. Actually, it's somehow more heroic to know that Superman is a regular guy than this flawless god who flies around in tights."
"Flawless?"
She rolled her eyes, hearing the smile in his tone. "Well, he did have a few flaws, but those were mostly due to his inability to commit to me."
His hand reached over and found hers. "He was committed to you, Lois. He just didn't know how to tell you."
Her throat seemed to have suddenly closed off so she squeezed his fingers as she croaked out, "Thanks."
He stroked his thumb over hers. "For what it's worth, I always adored you right back."
She made a snuffling noise and moved her head so that it was just barely touching his shoulder before she closed her eyes. "G'night, Clark."
"Good night," he answered softly and gave her fingers another squeeze.
Awww!!!! So adorable! *happy snuffle*
Clark wavered for a moment, not entirely sure about why he felt so shy. Then he slowly stood up and unbuttoned his shirt. Lois glanced away, watching the reflection of the sky above them in the tiny pool of water.
It's so sweet that they are so shy around each other.
He grit his teeth as she gently wiped away the layers of blood and dirt. "No, don't apologize. It's fine. In fact, I've been thinking about how this happened and I'm wondering if the dirt is part of the problem."
Yes, Clark. That must be it.
"Are you mocking me for knowing stuff? How are you going to sleep with me tonight if you're picking fights with me now?"
Lois looked up at him, her mind still swimming with the words 'sleep with me tonight'.
Aawww....
Lois swallowed in nervousness. She was going to have to take her shirt off in front of him again. He wasn't going to ogle, she knew that. Actually, maybe that was part of the problem. Why couldn't he want to ogle her, just a little?
Aaawww!!!
"Damn it," she swore softly and averted her eyes, embarrassed. "Can you help me?"
"Okay." He gently helped her to free her shirt from her left arm. "I promise I won't look anywhere I shouldn't."
She grimaced. Of course he wouldn't, the big boy scout.
Hmmm. She
doesn't like his boy scout image.
"It looks like it hurt." Actually it appeared swollen and streaks of red were extending from the exit wound. Clark frowned as he realized that meant an infection was setting in. At least it had scabbed over and was no longer bleeding.
Those red streaks, could they be the beginning of blood poisoning, as they called it when I was a kid? The way they explained it to me, it could be deadly.
"Not wear it, necessarily. Although I think you'd look amazing in the cape."
"Just the cape?"
He pressed his lips together to keep from smiling and she knew that she'd been had.
"Hmm, maybe," she said breezily. "Later on I'm going to wear nothing but the cape and see if you're right."
Good idea, Lois. But you might wear the boots, too.
She staggered to the side but caught her, pulling and turning her at the same time until she was safe against him. Lois closed her eyes and sagged gratefully against the warmth of him, forgetting for a moment that he was shirtless and she was wearing nothing on top but a lacy black bra and one of Superman's pant legs.
Aaaawww...
After a few seconds it occurred to her that she was wearing only those items and she pushed away from him to pick up her shirt.
Oh, Lois. Hey, you are married, you know?
Lois cracked open one eye to peek at him. "So your plan to save us includes spending the day sunbathing?"
"Do you have a better plan?" he teased.
She grinned and shook her head slowly from side to side. "Hey, I'm just here for the pampering. It's like a spa, only sandier."
"Hard to believe people pay good money for this, isn't it?"
He put his arm around her and she laid her cheek against his chest. Clark closed his eyes, tipping his chin to rest against the crown of her head. His fingers smoothed her hair back, absent-mindedly repeating the action over and over, the soft repetition soothing both of them.
And then the ending again - or the end ot this part, at any rate. So, so sweet. But, Sue, you really need to rescue Lois and Clark. So why don't you come back in a hurry and do so?
Ann
