Took me long enough to respond to this, but... WEEEEEE!!! I loved it!
Consider: DJ Saved Our Clark! DJ SOC! And Lois undressed Clark again! And everything was nice and WAFFY and
aaaaawwwww.... Okay, let's take things from the beginning....
Half-way to the street, her pager began beeping and she stopped to dig through her purse one-handed as she stuck the other arm in the air to flag down a cab. Her fingers closed around something hard and she pulled her hand out to find it clutching a container of mace. Making a face, she gave up her pursuit of a taxi and focused on finding the pager. Who was paging her anyway? Did Perry already want something else?
Okay, Lois needs to save Clark, and DJ is making me nervous because Lois has trouble even finding her pager.
She finally located the item and snatched it out of her purse, glancing at the display as she pulled it out. Lois frowned. It was the number for Clark's apartment. She glanced at her watch. The press conference was surely over by now, but why did Clark want her to call his apartment? She had told him she'd meet him at their temporary office.
Lois finally finds her pager, realizes she has been called from Clark's apartment, and is confused.
Lois turned around and headed back for the pay phone. She dialed his number and waited impatiently for the phone to ring once, twice, a third and finally a fourth time before Clark's answering machine picked up. “Hi. This is Clark. I'm not home right now...” his recorded voice began. Lois hung up the phone and bit her lip. Why hadn't he answered?
Should she go check on him?
Yes, yes, yes, Lois! Go NOW!!!
She really needed to get this story written up for Perry.
So you think you should do that instead of checking on Clark? Gaaahh!! Take the story and stuff it where the sun doesn't shine!
But what if something was wrong? She had told him to page her if he needed something, and obviously he had paged her - his phone number is what came up.
Listen to your own arguments, Lois!
She should probably try him again. Maybe he was just in the bathroom and couldn't get to the phone.
Actually, you are right - he
was in the bathroom and he
couldn't get to the phone. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't check on him!
She dialed the number and waited anxiously. Again, no answer.
Wasting time...
Lois sighed as she flagged down a taxi and got inside. Clark had better be dying – or else Perry was going to kill her.
Careful what you wish for, Lois!
Lois exited the cab and paid the driver. She hurried up the steps to Clark's apartment and then froze when she got to the top.
The door was standing partway open.
In this heat? Clark wouldn't leave the door open like that for the air conditioning to pour out of. She approached the door cautiously and peeked her head inside. There was no sign of Clark.
Now you can see that something is wrong, Lois!
She lowered the lamp and shook her head at herself. Lane, you've gotta get a grip, girl. There could be a million reasons for why the door had been left open. Maybe the building maintenance man had been by and had left it open. Maybe Clark had been here but had already gone... and he had left in such a hurry that he forgot to shut the door. Yeah, that was probably it.
So now you are just going to leave Clark's apartment, without checking his bathroom?
After a few seconds of contemplating searching the entire apartment, just to be sure, she convinced herself that she was overreacting.
Overreacting? Clark has paged her from his apartment, and when she gets there the place appears to be empty but his door has been left incongruously open, and she tells herself that she doesn't need to search his apartment because that would be overreacting? Award-winning investigative reporter Lois Lane???
She set the lamp down on the floor and realized that between the heat outside and the excitement in here, she was sweating profusely. It would do her some good to freshen up a bit.
The sight that met her as she walked into Clark's bathroom made her blood run cold. “Clark!”
Well, thank God she found him!!! The stupid girl!
Phew!!! Sorry, DJ, but you wrote this whole part so teasingly that you kept me wondering if Lois would find Clark at all! Thank God she did!!!
“It's Superman,” she blurted out. “Something's wrong with him. He's passed out. He got a sunburn...”
“Is it bad?”
“No,” she ventured, “I don't think so. But the rest of his skin is clammy. He wasn't feeling well earlier and...” And what? She came to Clark Kent's apartment and found him passed out here? “I, uh, asked him to meet me at Clark Kent's apartment. I've been staying at his place... it's a long story. Anyway, when I got here, I found Superman passed out. I don't know what to do, Dr. Klein. I can't get him up into bed by myself and I don't know how serious his condition is.”
Dr. Klein to the rescue!!!
“Clark? You're gonna be okay, you hear me? I called Dr. Klein. He'll know what to do,” she rambled as she continued to bathe his face with the cool rag.
Maybe she should take his tie off and unbutton his shirt? It might help to run this rag over his neck and chest as well and...
Lois felt her mouth drop open in horror. His clothes! Clark was still dressed as... Clark! And Dr. Klein was on his way over to help her with Superman. No, no, no!
“Clark, please wake up,” she pleaded with him. Embarrassment flushed her cheeks as she realized he wasn't going to cooperate and she was going to have to undress him and put his suit on herself.
Lois is going to undress Clark! Wo-hooo!!!
Her palms began to sweat. Why was this so hard? She had undressed him and helped him get into his pajama pants at his parents house the other night when he'd had too much to drink.
Ah, yes, but it had been almost pitch black. She hadn't turned any lights on, not wanting to wake his parents up. And he had sort of been awake then. He'd been able to at least help her. He had gotten his pants off on his own and had even managed to get his pajamas on by himself.
This was different. It was broad daylight. Clark was unconscious...
And they had told each other that they loved one another.
Why am I not feeling sorry for you, Lois?
She slid the belt from his pants and then unbuttoned and unzipped them.
Oh god... Focus! No...! On the task...!
No, no the boxers would stay on;
Coward! Hmmmph!
Lois tugged, pulled and slid and finally she had the garment on – with a minimal amount of awkwardness at touching certain areas of his body. The legs had been easy, but when she had gotten to his waist... well, besides trying to get acceptable handholds, it had just been a lot tighter of a fit to get the Suit over his hips... and ample backside. At least the Suit unzipped, that had helped her get it over the muscular span of his chest. But she'd finally had to pull him up into a sitting position to finish getting the suit on – and zipped up.
It had been a lot of work.
I can just see it! What a delightful mental image!
She thought she had been hot before – she was going to need a shower by the time this was over... most likely a cold one.
Now she just needed Klein to hurry up and get here.
She glanced up at the door, willing him to knock on it. Please hurry, she thought at him.
**********
Clark woke up slowly, feeling disoriented. The last thing he remembered clearly was throwing up in his bathroom. He had a vague recollection of people being there and of being moved...
And now he found himself lying on his side in his bed... In his Suit? What was he doing in that? Something soft and warm was draped over him and dangling against his chest. He looked down and realized it was someone's arm.
A woman's arm...
Lois's arm?
Wow, what an abrupt "cut" between two scenes, DJ. You sure had me wondering about Lois's arm on Clark in bed....
He looked back down at the arm on his chest. His eyes followed the arm to Lois's body. She was fully clothed and lying on top of the covers, but her arm was draped over him protectively. He finished rolling over and smiled softly at the enchanting expression on her face, a peaceful look of innocence exposed in her sleep. He couldn't count the number of dreams he'd had where he would wake up in bed next to her.
They didn't quite happen like this, but still...
That's so sweet.
“Sorry,” she mumbled as she started to pull away from him. “You were tossing in your sleep and I was afraid you were going to pull your IV out. As long as I was touching you, you seemed to calm down. I was just going to lay by you until you fell asleep but...”
That's adorable. Even when he is feverish and confused, Clark can sense Lois's presence and touch, and it immediately calms him.
“How did I get into my Suit?”
Lois looked away from him shyly. “I, uh, put it on you. I didn't know what else to do. I told Dr. Klein that Superman wasn't feeling well and I had asked him to meet me here.” She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “You're not mad, are you? It's just that when I found you passed out on the floor, it scared me. I knew someone needed to look at you and there wasn't any way I could get you up from the floor, let alone move you. So I called Dr. Klein.”
“No. I'm not mad, Lois,” he hurried to assure her, smiling lovingly at her. He had really been too hard on her about Dr. Klein. She needed to know that he trusted her. “You did exactly what you should have done.”
Well, he'd
better not be angry at her for this.
“It's Jack and Jimmy,” she hissed, peeking through the veiled curtains of the front door. “I called Perry to tell him that I was coming to check on you. He must have sent them over,” she continued in a whisper. She opened the door just a crack and smiled at the two boys. “Give us just a minute, okay? Clark's... uh...” She glanced back at Clark who was hiding off to one side, clothed in his super hero outfit, “...getting dressed.”
The astonished looks on the two boys' faces brought a flush into hers.
Clark struggled to reach his zipper to undo his suit. He wriggled out of the top portion and then hopped from one leg to another as he pulled the suit from his body.
Lois came in, bringing him the clothes to put on, and gaped momentarily. He was standing there in only his boxers. She averted her gaze and held out his clothes. “Do you need help?” she asked awkwardly, not meeting his eyes.
So Lois didn't get to undress Clark one more time in this part. Well, you know what they say, Lois: third time lucky.
And Clark and Jack have some catching up to do. Ah well. Clark, you have even more catching up to do with Lois!
Great part, DJ! So funny and WAFFy and
pheww, what a relief!
Ann
It's too cute. 
