Hi Terry!
Clark grinned and shook his head. “Routine’s over, Lois. Louie, Cat is a reporter for the Planet. She was with the paper a while back, got laid off before we left, then came back to fill the hole Lois left.”
“Yeah? How’s she doin’ with that job?”
Well, Cat hasn't cracked a major crime syndicate in months, so, about as good as Lois did before she got axed.
Clark grinned. “She’s still rattling around and bouncing off the walls, scrambling to be as much like Lois as she can be.”
She did make a pass or two at Clark in her time, so…
“Hey!” Lois interjected. “She’s not all bad.”
“On, really?” asked Kim. “I thought she was in the market for Clark.”
Bookin’ dates here in Metropolis and in Gotham ain’t the problem. Unfortunately – the problem is the two of you.”
So, problem’s not with them but still with them?
“Look, you two, I hit some roadblocks in bookin’ you guys out o’ town. You need more exposure south and west, but I’m hearin’ back from venue management in them places that the material you’re doing and your target audience ain’t compatible with you two livin’ together like you are.”
Oooooh! Like that pregger's joke? See? Told you the nosy neighbors would have something to say about that nice, young gentleman living with such a floozy.
I really think it would help me get you in a lotta new places if you was hitched.”
![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/smilie/nahrung/a055.gif)
I did not expect you to go there. I mean, I thought about that solution when Louie brought it up, but I. Did. Not. Expect. That.
Just so you two know, we have the same address but we don’t sleep together.”
Clark! That's...that's...Clark! Couldn't he at least have said, we're just roommates?
LOIS: No, he's right. We do have sex and lot's of it, but then it's always back to the couch for him. Can't have anything inappropriate going on. Not with Floyd and his ‘50s morals clauses in the rent agreement.
Lois sat up straight. “So you’re saying that you can’t book us out of town unless we get married? How stupid is that?”
Oh dear. She not going to be doing bits to educate the farmers folk about the modern day and age now, is she?
Livin’ t’gether, even if it’s like youse guys what don’t sleep in the same bed, they don’t want.”
So, no Three's-Company jokes, then?
Lois narrowed his eyes at him. “We’ll talk it over and let you know what we decide, Louie. Anything else on your mind?”
So, when they get married, does that mean they will have to start sleeping in the same bed? Or will Clark have to saw the bed in half so they can keep sleeping in separate beds and only push them together for special occasions?
Clark rolled his eyes and began complaining about how skinny her goldfish were before they moved her aquarium and how hungry the little guys still were even after eating the piranha Lois had brought home.
Awww…they’re adorable!
“When I barged into your apartment a couple of months ago and just assumed that I could stay here indefinitely.”
So, Lois must start to be showing, soon, then. No wonder Louie wants them to get hitched soon. They'll never get the smalltown gigs without a ring.
“I could have told you no. So don’t try to be a martyr about this.”
Looking into her eyes was almost hypnotic. He heard himself saying, “If we both agreed to get an annulment when the assignment’s over, I could see us going to City Hall tomorrow.”
Uh-oh. Danger! Danger! Danger! Plus, they probably can’t get an annulment if they consummate so they will need to be extra careful now.
Her face paled and she reached across her torso to grab her other elbow. “I – I don’t know if I can handle being fake-married to you, Clark.”
Oh boy.
“Can we take care of it right after lunch, after we pick up our stuff from Joe DeLucca’s club?”
Awwww…Lois is such a romantic!
Take care of it, she said. As if they were planning to get a boil lanced.
Yeah, there won’t be any lancing going on.
She went into the bedroom and closed the door. The click of the latch seemed to thud against his heart like a pile driver.
![[Linked Image]](https://cosgan.de/images/smilie/teufel/d090.gif)
And the bed and couch thing? Didn’t he see how much that hurt her? Couldn’t he tell that she would have agreed to marry him with a smile if he’d pushed past her stupid, thin objections and told her that he loved her?
She does apply a bit of a double standard, doesn't she? Back in the day, MLT's First Comes Marriage brought with it the perfect way to describe them: muttonheaded dolts.
And the annulment.
That might have been the unkindest cut of all. The cavalier, offhand way he assumed that she’d only consent to marry him to get the story, the byline, the front page above the fold.
Ooooohh… The blushing bride and the proud groom will look so deliriously apathetic at their wedding. It will be such a forced affair.
He just stomped on her heart like it was a bug invading his home.
Yeah, talking's not their strongest feature. Good thing they're not in a profession that relies on communicating intent or thoughts clearly and with wit.
Clark would capture an invading insect and release it outside.
Yeah, about that. If she thinks that Clark would happily introduce her to Call-Me-Daniel, she's got another think coming.
But her? He’d just throw her into the trash compactor and press the “flatten” button. And there was no C3P0 or R2D2 to save her.
Ooooh! Star Wars reference! To be honest, I didn't expect Lois to get one. Or make one, for that matter. Much less the trash compactor. OTOH, she *did* discover a rather unique smell that one time.
She’d have to back off from the little touches and quick kisses they’d been exchanging for weeks.
*blinks* Yes, he will take that exactly the right way.
That wall around her heart that she’d allowed him to breach would have to be rebuilt, stronger and wider and taller than ever before.
Maybe also add a moat while she’s at it? Unfortunately, it’s too early in the ‘90s to reference Riverrun or Storm’s End.
She didn’t look forward to her dreams tonight. She already knew they wouldn’t be good ones.
Unless she's on her honeymoon with Clark. Maybe she finds him preoccupied with his blonde highschool sweetheart on their wedding night?
Next one should be a doozy!
Also, is it wrong to have laughed?
LOIS: Yes.
CLARK: Kinda.
LEX:
TEMPUS:
Michael
