Part 4EpilogueClark and Lois stood across the street from the Daily Planet, looking up at the globe spinning above the entrance to the newspaper building.
“We did it!” Lois announced. “We managed to prove that Lex was about to blow up the Daily Planet. Good job, Kent!”
“Thank you, Lane,” he replied. “We couldn’t have done it without you!”
Lois looped her arm around Clark’s, and grinned. “No, you couldn’t have. I was essential to the team.”
He chuckled. “How modest of you to say so.”
“Are you saying I wasn’t?”
He patted her hand and smiled. “Of course not. With your assistance, we were able to speed up the discovery process ten-fold; however, without your help, I’m sure the guys and I would’ve
eventually come up with enough evidence on our own…”
“Oh, so you’re saying that I was useless. That I would’ve better served the team as a damsel in distress for you to rescue at the last second, an unknowing idiot in a white dress willing to marry one of the biggest crime bosses Metropolis has ever seen,” she said, jerking her hand free.
“You could never be useless, Lois. It goes against your DNA,” Clark replied.
She put her hands on her hips. “So you think I’m a gullible idiot then?”
“What? No. Lois, I never said that!”
Lois pointed at him. “But you
thought it!”
“Never once crossed my mind,” Clark insisted.
Stubborn woman who never listens to reason, on the other hand…“I know. I know. I got myself into another federal disaster of a relationship,” she said, ticking the numbers off on her fingers. “Firstly, he lied to me. Secondly, he hid his true self, his true nature from me. Thirdly, he was willing to humiliate me on a national scale by releasing those photographs.”
“I would never do something like that,” Clark said, trying to get back on the inside of that metaphorical wall that just shot upwards between them.
“What? Lie to me? Please, Clark. I’ve never met a more honest man and a more horrible liar. So, it couldn’t be that.”
He swallowed.
“How about hiding your true self?” She looked him up and down. “Impossible!” she scoffed.
Clark shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as he crossed his arms, glancing away.
“Even if you could embarrass me on a national scale, I doubt you would’ve tried to use those naked negatives against me,” she said.
“You weren’t naked in them,” Clark reminded her.
Her jaw dropped. “You didn’t look?”
He ran an exhausted hand down his face. There was no winning here, was there? Of course he had looked and, no, she hadn’t been fully nude in those pictures.
“If you ever wanted to show me what you looked like…uh… without clothes on, I’m sure you would take me to a motel room… or someplace private and remove them,” he teased.
Her gaze narrowed.
That had sounded funnier in his head.
Clark raised his hands in self-defense and was about to tell her that he was ‘just joking’ when she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled him against her chest and said breathlessly, “Shall we go now?”
“
What? No!”
“You don’t want to see me naked, Clark?” she asked.
“No, of course I do.”
Oh, crud. Had he said that aloud? “I mean…” Could he ever talk himself out of this hole? “I love you for your mind, not just your body.”
That was worse. “Your spirit. Your personality. Your sense of humor. Your intelligence. Your never-say-die attitude. The way you always admit it when I’m wrong.”
That last one cracked a smile on her face.
“Your generous nature. The way you take every setback as an opportunity to become better. Your loyalty.” Well, at least, to Superman. He drew in a breath to continue digging himself deeper into this hole when she took hold of his arm once more.
“And I love that you only admit that you love me as a way to distract me from the fact that you want to see me naked,” she replied, moving them down the road.
He tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. “I said…?” He quickly reviewed his last rambling monologue. He swallowed. He had. “I also love how you never hold things over my head when I misspeak.”
“So, you don’t love me?”
“If I admitted to being a liar who’s hiding something huge from you, would you hold it against me?” He said this with a big, hopeful grin.
She looked up at him from the corner of her eye. “I’ll take that under advisement,” she said, holding tighter onto his arm. “I’d also say that you’ve now lost your opportunity for me to take you to that hotel room.”
He tripped over another crack. Had she been serious? No. She was merely testing him.
“Some things are worth waiting for, are worth earning,” he whispered.
“Oh, really? And how much would you have to earn for the privilege of seeing me naked?” she asked wryly.
“Your respect,” he replied. “Your trust. Your love. Your desire to see me in the buff as well.” He grinned, nudging her. “You know the typical things.”
“Well, that’s just… just ridiculous. Why would I want to do that?” Lois said, looking away, but not before Clark had seen her face turn as red as Superman’s cape.
“Oh? Are you saying that I’ve earned one of those already?” he couldn’t stop himself from saying. “It must be your respect.”
“Of course. That’s it,” she said, somewhat breathlessly and with overt relief.
“No, you agreed way too quickly. It must be your trust.”
They both laughed.
“With you having just told me that you’re lying to me and keeping a big secret from me? That’s doubtful,” she scoffed. She took his hand in hers. “You do realize I’m going to figure it out, don’t you?”
“If anyone could, it would be you, Lois,” he replied. “I just might end up telling you first.”
“Where would be the fun in that?”
“In knowing that you could finally see me… um… unclothed,” he said, adding an oversized grin.
“Aha! I figured out your secret!” she announced, pointing her finger into the sky. “You want to
pose for naked pictures for me!”
“Ah. No,” Clark said. “I personally think having a camera in the bedroom is a very bad idea.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t take them.” Lois giggled. “I’d send Jimmy.”
Clark laughed and then said with dead seriousness, “Not in a million years.”
“No?”
He adamantly shook his head. “No.”
“What if I had the camera?” she asked.
He stopped and wrapped his free arm around her waist, raising her hand to his lips for a kiss. “If I’d earned your love, respect, and trust, despite this big secret and lie…”
She tilted her head back to look him in the eye. “Only one lie then?”
“It’s more of an omission.” He lowered his face towards her.
“You were saying?” she interrupted, glancing down at his tie. “About having earned my respect, love, and trust…”
“Then I wouldn’t squander any time alone with you playing around with a camera,” he whispered.
“Squander?” she echoed.
“Every moment with you would be precious, even if I had a hundred years of them. Why take pictures, when I could have those memories instead?”
“Yes, why indeed?” she said, softly. “So, you’re saying that you won’t try to seduce me until I know your secret?”
He ran his fingers through her hair. “Do you want me to seduce you?”
“I meant have sex.”
He smiled. “Do you want me to make love to you, Lois?”
She turned away, her face red again, but she didn’t step out of his arms. “You’re avoiding the question.”
As had she.
“I won’t make love to you until you know, Lois,” he promised into her ear. “I respect you too much to do otherwise.”
“Respect or love?” she asked, turning back around. Her face was now a mere inch away from his. He could feel her breath against his lips.
“Both,” he replied, speaking the word into her mouth. He took her dare and closed the gap between them, sealing this promise with a kiss.
Her arms slid up his chest and wrapped around his neck, placing one foot between his feet and pulling him closer. He tightened his arms to make sure that he didn’t lose his grip of her. As her lips moved over his, the noise from Metropolis faded away and it felt as if suddenly he and Lois were alone on the street. When they broke for air, sound rushed back to Clark like a freight train, causing him to take Lois more securely in his embrace.
She rested her head against his chest. “But you don’t trust me enough to tell me your big secret now?”
“Well, not so long ago, you were engaged to Luthor; it’s best if we take this slowly,” he replied.
“Gee, thanks, Clark,” she said dryly, lifting her head to stare him in the eye. “Do you always kiss women you don’t trust?”
Clark pretended to think about this. “Not always. There was Toni Taylor, but that was just a diversion to let you escape unseen.”
“How many women have you trusted with this secret?”
“There’s a taxi,” he said, stepping out of her embrace to wave it down. “I’ve just discovered a great Italian restaurant in the city.” He opened the door of the now-stopped cab, but Lois didn’t budge.
She crossed her arms. “How many?”
“That’s not really a first-day-we’ve-kissed kind of question, now is it?” he retorted, resting his hand on the curve of her back and kissing her cheek. “After you.”
Lois reluctantly entered the cab. Once he had sat down and given the driver the address of the restaurant, he turned to face Lois and saw she had her arms crossed and had that ‘not going to let this drop’ expression on her face. “The first day we kissed was right before Trask’s men threw me out of his plane…”
“You jumped,” Clark amended.
She waved that detail away. “And that was over a year ago. I’ve kissed you twice more since then.”
“Three times more, actually… Well, including today, five times in total,” he corrected. “To be fair, I’m not including the kisses…”
All sixty-four of them. “— you gave me when you were drunk on Revenge.”
“No, four.”
“Five.”
Lois stared at him, and he could see the wheels starting to turn inside her head. Her fingers started to count out the different kisses: Trask’s plane, when he quit the Daily Planet during the heat wave, in the honeymoon suite, and just now.
“Four.”
“Five.” He leaned back and grinned. He had photographic proof. The picture had been splashed across the front page of the Metropolis Star. His mom had shown it to him within her Superman scrapbook.
Lois stared at him as if trying to recall that fifth time. “How many?”
Clark leaned over and whispered in her ear. “None.”
Her lips pressed together in a line, clearly not believing him. “You’re a strange man, Clark Kent.” She waved a finger at him. “I figured you out once before. I’m going to figure this out, too. Just you wait and see.”
He smiled. “I can’t wait.”
***The End***Comments WelcomeDisclaimer: This story was inspired by the characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster as they were portrayed on the
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman television series, developed by Deborah Joy LeVine. The characters do not belong to me; they belong to themselves (although Warner Bros, DC Comics, and the heirs to Siegel and Shuster might disagree). Many thanks to all the writers on the above-referenced show.
Author’s Note: I just wanted to remind readers that in this story, Superman didn’t pretend that he had been affected by the Revenge perfume and, therefore, didn’t kiss Lois at the airport (in front of Lex Luthor) after Miranda was apprehended. This is why there were only a combined four kisses between them (not counting the kiss from right before they entered the cab in this final scene, which would make five). One – Trask’s Plane. Two – Heat Wave departure. Three – at the Lexor. Four – Nightfall kiss (as Superman), Five – Just moments before.
Also, in case you hadn’t guessed from my borrowing one of the lines from the song, this plot was inspired by the J. Geils Band’s
“Centerfold”.
