Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Fanfic Quiz -- Opening Lines

Lois fumbled with her keys as she mounted the steps of the
townhouse. It had been a long day; right after lunch,
there'd been a news flash reporting massive flooding and
mudslides in Venezuela. Clark had flashed her a look and
was gone.

He'd been away for hours, leaving her to cover for him, and
she knew it might be hours more before he came home; he
wouldn't leave until he was sure he'd saved everyone who
could be saved. And when he did get home, he'd be
exhausted and dispirited. She pulled open the outer door.
Maybe she should think about ordering in some of his
favorite Chinese dishes. Or something from that little
Thai place he liked. Or...

The knife came from nowhere, sharp against her throat.
"Don't scream," ordered a low, threatening voice. "Don't
move until I say."

Lois wrung her hands nervously as she watched her partner sitting at his desk from her vantage point at the coffee break area. Since he had returned from the 'dead' a few days ago after being shot by Al Capone's gangsters, she was more aware of him than ever before. Now that she had him back, her insides rolled over in knots every time she came near him. Sleep was a distant friend; she kept turning in her mind what her life would be like without Clark Kent, her best friend and partner. Her conclusion was that she wouldn't have a life; the handsome reporter had ingrained himself in such a way that there was no separating her life from his anymore. He was a part of her and she hoped that he felt the same way.

As to whether Clark Kent cared for her, there was no doubt in her mind that she was important to him. After all, he had literally *died* for her. Thank heavens that Superman had been able to use Dr. Hamilton's procedures on him and bring him back to life. Still, exactly *how* important she was to him was still a mystery to her.

Yet there was the slight problem of how to get her message across to him without making a fool of herself in the process. There was the incidence of him taking back his declaration of love after her disaster of an almost wedding to Lex Luthor. That happened right before she almost admitted to him that there might be something more between them - - the same thing she almost did the other night when she had driven him home after the capture of Al Capone and his gangsters. She didn't want to humiliate herself for love's sake anymore, not for anyone, especially her best friend.

People bustled around Lois as she glanced up into the perfectly clear blue sky. The sun hung high in the sky, casting its rays toward the earth, glinting off the metal of the bridge. She really couldn't ask for a better day to do this. Around her, the wooded hillsides sloped down infinitely toward the bottom of the gorge that the bridge spanned. The autumn colors made them almost seem to be on fire, and Lois couldn't help but smile. Yes, it truly was a perfect afternoon.

You ever heard the expression "alone in a room full of people?" Well, that's me. Only in my case, it's a very big room.

It's funny that things turned out the way they did, considering how the
weekend started. Usually it's Mom and me who get into trouble ("my
Earth women," Daddy calls us, "my two enterprising Earth women"), and
usually Dad who rescues us, and this weekend *did* begin that way.
Well, sort of. Dad didn't actually *rescue* us from that thing that
happened at the courthouse; he just teased us about it. And he didn't
rescue us from the Nycon building, either, which Mom was quick to point
out ... but he teased us about that, too.

Lois Lane was feeling atypically frightened. With hindsight, she
wondered why she had ever allowed herself to be entrapped in this highly
vulnerable position. Lois was a wholly independent, liberated young woman
of the eighties who had been taking care of her own decisions since her
parents had participated in a particularly messy divorce when she was 14
years old. At the time she had felt totally abandoned as her mother had
found solace in a mixture of alcohol and nerve pills and her father had
immersed himself firstly in his profession as a doctor and secondly in his
predilection for pretty young assistants, which Lois reflected was the
cause of her parents' troubles at the outset. Had this rejection from her
father, the most important male figure in her young life, had some bearing
on the situation in which she was now floundering?

She had never been so frustrated. Never. In all her years as an
investigative reporter, never had someone been so bold as to tell
Lois Lane that she'd lost her edge.

Today it had happened.

This morning Ralph had walked casually past her desk, the day's
edition of the Daily Planet in hand. He paused long enough to make
sure she noticed him, then proceeded to say with a smirk, "Hmm, once
again, another day goes by and the famous Lane byline hasn't even
graced the front page." He saw her features flinch at his words,
though she did her best to hide it, and it only served to encourage
him. "Whatever is the world coming to?" he asked, his voice filled
with mock exaggeration.

"Lois! Clark! Take a look at this!"

Jimmy's excitable voice reached the Planet's star reporters as they had barely stepped out of the elevator to enter the newsroom. Lois turned to Clark, raising an eyebrow in amusement; Clark grinned back as they both wondered just what had occurred this time to gain Jimmy's interest.

Not allowing his friends time even to deposit their briefcases at their desks, Jimmy rushed over. "The Star says Superman's got married!"

Superman drifted carefully through the open window, as cautious
as though the shivering woman he was carrying against his chest
was made of spun glass. He'd rarely felt as awkward about flying
with anyone - let alone her - and he was thankful that she had
finally calmed some. Her squealing and squirming had been
completely disconcerting and his nerves were just about shot,
leaving him still a little twitchy, despite his gratitude that
she'd *finally* stopped screaming and settled on simply clinging
to him with an around the throat Ninja death-grip instead.

"She is everything I dreamed she'd be ..."
Clark thought to himself.
As the grey jeep stopped at the red light,
the two occupants sat giggling their heads off.
"Stop, Clark. I can't drive anymore." Lois
laughed.
"And that's news?" Clark answered her.
She smirked as she tried to reach over and
hit him. "Ha ha ha ... very funny, Mister Perfect."
He turned to look at her with a goofy smile
on his face, "I know I am."
"You really have lost it." She said, shaking
her head. She drove on. After a moment, she
turned on the radio. "You can change the channel
if you want," she told him.
He started to play with the dial.
They had just been to a National Reporters
Convention. It was a long drive home, but the two
didn't seem to mind. She enjoyed his company,
more than ever. He always had some silly joke that
was so stupid that she couldn't help but laugh.

By midnight, the election night party at the Metropolis Hilton's
main ballroom was working its way through lively and approaching
rowdy; the "Kent for President" campaign was expecting a win. The
stage and podium were draped with ribbons - red, blue, and yellow -
and news crews for all the major networks had staked out corners of
the room for their live broadcasts. Until the final vote tallies were
in, however, there was nothing to do but drink, laugh, and shout to
be heard over everyone else shouting to be heard. All the Kents
were gathered upstairs, glued to LNN's election night coverage.

The tapes were ready. The VCR was ready. The popcorn was almost ready. Even the weather was co-operating: it was grey, wet and dull outside, but not too rough. All in all, Lois thought, it was a perfect day to be indoors and shut out the world, without any great risk of storm and tempest to call Clark away.

Once he got here, that is.

It's strange, isn't it? The way you can sometimes pinpoint your feelings without a shadow of a doubt, knowing that you are making exactly the right decision? And then there are other times when you have no idea which way is up, your feelings so muddled and your heart so muted that nothing comes through clearly.

I definitely fall into the latter category tonight.

Lois placed the nozzle back on the gas tank and walked inside to pay for her gas. She ran her fingers through her sweaty hair, wishing she had showered at the gym after her Tai Kwon Do class. She increased her pace in a hurry to get home. She could shower there.

It had been a long, mind-numbing day. She and Clark were inbetween major stories, and she had spent all day writing a boring story about the dedication of the new Metropolis Museum of Anthropology. Like the city needed a new museum. Just one more place for politicians to spend the tax dollars of hardworking citizens, she grumbled internally as she entered convenience store. She headed to the counter, then abruptly changed directions, deciding to grab some ice cream while she was there. Today definitely called for ice cream.

Stepping out of the shower, the young man toweled off and shaved in record time. Dressing with unusual care in spite of his haste, he chose and discarded several shirts before he was satisfied with the result.

Tonight was special; the night he had been waiting for, the night that would end the lying, the hiding, the months and years of secrecy.

Tonight he would tell her ... everything.

Lois stepped out into the darkness of the hallway and
winced as the bedroom door clicked to a close at her back,
seeming overly loud in the calm silence of the slumbering
farmhouse.

She stood for a moment, breathing heavily as though in the
midst of some clandestine burglary, waiting to be
discovered. But nothing stirred, the silence was unbroken,
the darkness continued to press against her.

Lois Lane's brow was furrowed as she pulled her jeep out of the Daily Planet's parking garage. It had been one crazy day. First there had been the unexpected solar eclipse this morning on their way to work. Then her partner, Clark Kent, had been hit by that runaway car. Thankfully he hadn't been hurt. She had been surprised by that. The impact had thrown him quite a distance, yet he seemed no worse for wear than a little dirt on his clothes. It wasn't till later that morning that they found out the eclipse had been caused by some huge asteroid that no one had ever heard of. The scientists called it Nightfall.