Hi Sara! Nice story!
Clark's introspection is appropriately angsty and agonizing in just the right amount. He's alternatively mad at Lois and mad at himself for letting himself fall in love with her. And he hates Superman to the point where he doesn't want to use his powers anymore as represented by the tea kettle.
A stifled grunt, and the next instant, his fist smashed into the nearest unmovable object: the wall. He stumbled and nearly fell as his arm went straight through the brick and he suddenly had a window where there wasn't one before, a peephole through to his bedroom from the living room.
I see where you had some influence from Wendy's story.
I remember this.
Nature had granted him a body of steel. Sometimes he felt that he would gladly exchange that for a normal, everyday body, and an invulnerable heart.
I love this quote.
He... *he* was her fiance. The man she had chosen to slide that ring on her finger, to match his soul to hers, to gather her close with tender promises, to...
...to make her his wife.
Ick. Somehow I just can't see Luthor doing this. The promises, yes, but matching souls and keeping his promises, no. But it's another very good line in Clark's introspection as he tortures himself.
She glanced down at the sweater in her suddenly clenched fist, pearly with moisture from the cool air. *That* had been her excuse? She was disturbing him at home to return a *sweater*? At one in the morning?
This is so Lois. Even though she knows that this excuse to see Clark is completely transparent, she still needs to hide behind this flimsy reason for seeing him.
She drew a sharp breath, her horrified gaze sweeping over a broad expanse of smooth, bronzed chest, defined so sharply that it appeared somebody had taken a chisel and carved it out of rock.
Horrified at seeing him like this, huh?
He looked at her for hours - or was it only a few seconds? - more, then shook his head.
"Go home, Lois," he bit out, spitefully, before moving his arm as if to swing the door closed in her face.
Yes, this is exactly what Lois deserves. Like Tank, I agree this arc savaged Lois' character, but unlike him, I love this arc for its lovely angst. At this point, she deserves to have a few doors slam in her face. She thought marrying Lex would open a number of doors for her, but never realized that a few doors that mean more to her than anything would be forever closed to her if she followed through.
She moved quickly, placing one petite foot in the path of the disobedient door and glaring up at him with all the ferocity she could muster. "No," she said tightly. If he was going to play hardball, then she most certainly was not going to make it easier for him!
But in true Lois fashion, she doesn't let Clark have his way, forcing her way in.
"I'm... engaged, Clark," she said, her tone unforgiving. "I'm in... I'm happy. And I want you to share that happiness with me. I *want* my best friend back, Clark - you mean too much for me just to let you go!"
I love how she's unable to tell Clark she's in love with Luthor because she isn't. But she really loves to torture him by insisting he go to her wedding. That's about as bad as inviting an ex-spouse to a wedding, maybe worse since he still loves her.
"But then, you were never really interested in fairness, were you?"
This is a good example of where this arc completely savaged Lois' character, but at this point it was very true of how she treated him.
"What did you want me to do, Clark?" she yelled, her cheeks flaming. How dare he! How dare he make her feel like that! "Fall at your feet just because you say you love me? I've done that, Kent - men who are *better* actors than you have tried that on me! I've made a fool of myself once; I'm not going to do it again, especially not when *you're* the one who -"
He was staring at her now, his cheeks a deathly white, with an expression akin to horror, and despite herself, she felt some of her anger drain away at the sheer disbelief on his face.
"What are you looking at me like that for?"
He shook his head, his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide and incredulous as they looked into hers.
"You don't believe me," he stated flatly. "You don't believe what I said, that day in the park."
Her chin quivered slightly, but she forced herself to raise it and look him square in the eye. "No, I don't."
Now this is a different take from Lois' response to Clark's confession of love. She tells him she doesn't believe him, though it's due more to her insecurities than anything else, believing she's unlovable.
"Get out," he said tightly. "Get out of my apartment, since you think I'm a liar."
She watched his taut, angry back stalk out of the bedroom then, and she knew she had lost him forever.
Great angst! Love Clark's very appropriate response here.
He didn't know how it had happened. One minute, his heart had been twisting in agony as he watched the woman he loved walk out of his life at his order. The next, his stomach had turned upside down and inside out at the sight of her engagement ring, twinkling merrily at him from the wooden floor.
This is an interesting way for Lois to try to get Clark to see her, though I would have thought Clark wouldn't fall for it. An engagement ring is something Lois would have noticed immediately if its loss was accidental. An angry Clark would have probably dropped it in an envelope or box and mailed it to her, but he's being nice here.
He raised a hand to the door, preparing to knock, and recoiled in horror as the handle gave a sudden wrench. The next instant, Lois was staring straight into his skittering eyes.
And she was wearing... she was wearing...
Yes! Turnabout is fair play.
He clenched his fist, barely registering the bite on his palm. He opened his hand, looking at the white crescent impression indented in his palm with scorn. Dropping the ring on a small stand, where she would surely notice it, he made a tightly executed turn, heading for the door.
Her voice froze him in his tracks.
"Where are you going?"
Darn. If he had gotten away, we could have had a multi-parter.
Oh well, I guess they'll talk and get all smoochie.
It seemed to take forever, but eventually the stony grey boulder of his back swung around and he was looking at her. She let her keys swing pendulum-style from her index finger and watched understanding dawn on his face. She had locked the door when his eyes had been fixed so firmly on the floor, sensing that he'd be departing far too rapidly for her taste.
A long pause ensued.
"Are you going to let me out?" he said finally, sullenly.
It really would have been fun if Clark had either ripped the door off its hinges or if he had dived out Lois' third/fifth story window. Would have made for an interesting revelation.
"What do you think I'm made of?" he asked disbelievingly. "Granite? Marble? Steel?" She jumped a little at that last, a memory flashing through her as she stared at him. "This *hurts*, Lois. I'm an -" his lip curled "- ordinary guy. I'm in *love* with you! I can't watch you stand there, with that ring behind you, not letting me out, not letting me go, planning to marry Lex Luthor..."
"I'm not." She said it calmly, ignoring the flurry of emotions within her at the split-second decision.
Kind of interesting that Lois didn't make up her mind not to marry Lex until right this moment. Clark also gives quite a few hints in his speech about his alter-ego.
She didn't have time to obsess about that new awareness, because the next instant he was crossing the room with his long strides, and she was swept up and into his arms and hugged as only Clark Kent could hug her.
"Thank God," she heard mumbled in the space behind her ear. "Thank God."
I like this. Clark's willing to be friends again just because she's not marrying Luthor, even if she doesn't come to love him. There would still be a lot to work through since she still appears to be calling Clark a liar about Lex and about his feelings.
"I've led you on and rejected you. I've depended on you and discarded you. I've joked with you, laughed with you, teased you, and then dismissed you scornfully, ground you into the dirt with the rest of them, tried to pretend you didn't matter to me - *told* you that you didn't matter to me - and now... now..."
She didn't actually tell him in so many words that he didn't matter to her. In letting him down, she tried to tell him she did care for him, but I guess she realizes her actions spoke louder than her words, since her words pretty much screamed out that Clark meant nothing to her.
Yes, she had said it. She *loved* Clark. She loved him so fiercely, so completely, that it was like a pain inside of her - always there, always with her, stinging every second she spent apart from him. Making her ache so badly by just *being* there that she refused to acknowledge its existence, just so she could go on pretending. Just so that she could go on living.
Living without pain.
Without conflict.
Without hope.
Without love.
Aw, this is a lovely revelation of Lois' feelings.
A strong finger tipped her chin up gently, and she was suddenly staring straight into his face.
His face which bore no sign of the disgust she'd been sure he must feel.
His face which showed only confusion, disbelief, tenderness, and...
...love.
Is this where Lois finally believes Clark actually does love her? The last thing she said in Clark's apartment was that she didn't believe him. So even though she now admits she loves him, is this where she finally acknowledges that Clark loves her?
But, strangely enough, no such monster came roaring into her brain. In fact, all that was left as she stared at the man in front of her was...
Relief.
Tenderness.
Love.
Relief. Now there was nothing more between them. Now they were both free of the bonds that had ensnared them. Now they could move ahead. Now they could actually get somewhere.
Wow. We're getting quite a lot of angst-free revelations recently.
It's wonderful how so many writers can come up with so many revelation scenarios and make the reactions of the characters so varied and yet believable.
"Relax, Clark," she said, giggling. "You look like I'm about to rip your entrails out with a dessert spoon."
It does hurt more that way.
"Is that... all I have to practise?" he asked, his twinkling eyes darkening deliberately as he moved closer.
She smiled brilliantly at him and brushed her lips briefly against his. "All depends on how good you are, Farmboy," she whispered teasingly, as he rested her forehead against hers.
"Guess we'll find out," he said, his eyes a never-ending pool of emotions.
She grinned as they spoke in unison.
"Together."
Awww. Lovely conclusion, Sara. And a lovely story.
Happy birthday Kaethel
I love the BatP/HoL stories...my favorite. I really enjoyed it. And...Happy Birthday, again Kaethel!! 
Poor Clark! 
