Lois was going to kill him.
It didn't matter, because Lois was going to kill him.
I imagine he's had this conversation with himself repeatedly over the years.
He pulled out the ring tucked into his cape, running his dirty fingers over the smooth circle of gold. Round. Never ending. Eternal.
Lois is his security blanket. He runs his hand over his wedding ring to reassure himself that he can do it... whatever it requires of him.
He watched her run a hand through her tousled hair and his heart clenched. She was wearing his sweatshirt. The big one.
Clark is her security blanket, too. She pulls on his sweatshirt--the big one--to bring him a little closer to her.
At first I assumed that she knew. She figured it out in the same way she had in the series, but had waited for him to tell her. But in this scene, it doesn't seem like she knows. An earthquake of this magnitude would have told her exactly where Superman was, and yet she doesn't seem to know where Clark is.
Since we know that Lois isn't galactically stupid, it means that she has to have accepted him and his idiotic fears of total commitment.
And then she paused, her worried eyes flicking upwards and finding his. "Are you okay? Please, please tell me you're okay."
His heart clenched at the quiver in her voice. She'd been scared for him.
I've been scared for my husband before and totally identified with this scene. Of course, he hadn't been gone for three days, but the feelings were the same, never the less. The relief when you hear him walk into the door. Knowing that your worries were unfounded--that it's all over.
"I'm going to kill you," she breathed into his neck.
Clark nodded against her, and her arms tightened around him. "I know."
That seems familiar, too. I tend to get angry that his thoughtlessness caused my worry, despite the fact that I'm a big girl who chooses what she thinks about and dwells on. I don't know if he has ever worried me where it hasn't ended in a fight. And Clark is certainly steeling himself for one.
Of course, James has always taken the opposite approach with me. While there are some matters that he holds close to the vest, he came clean with all of the biggies. He sat me down and told me his life story before we really began dating, because if I was going to reject him he needed to know in the beginning before he REALLY, REALLY got hurt in the process. You could call it the opposite approach to the same problem.
I'm not sure if Clark is ready to tell her the truth, yet, though. He seems too relieved that the questions never were asked. Perhaps it all depends on what happens in the morning. If Lois cries... Or if Lois asks... Or if they just pretend that nothing ever happened...
The title (and the whole idea, really) is based loosely on the idea that Wedding Vows don't include the word 'truth' in them.
I never noticed that. It only goes to show that they weren't written by a talk show host. Can you imagine what Dr. Phil would have to say about that?
Elisabeth
