Once Upon a Dream - TOC Part 1 Part 2There was a slight tap on Lois’s window. She glanced up from where she was reviewing her research on sound waves and saw Superman hovering outside. She hadn’t seen Superman – well, at least not up front and personal like this – since she dug the bullet out of his shoulder. And not at her apartment since that fatal day he had broken her heart. Reluctantly, she walked to the window and opened it up.
“I apologize for the lateness of the hour…”
Lois smiled. There were no late hours where he and Clark were involved. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked, since there was no obvious emergency at her apartment. She wished she weren’t breathless every time she spoke to Superman, but there were some things she simply couldn’t get around. “How is your shoulder?” She reached out to touch it, but stopped herself. She remembered how his uniform had been torn by the Kryptonite bullet, yet now there wasn’t even a seam. “Wow. Did your suit heal itself, too?” She glanced up at his startled expression.
“My shoulder is fine, Lois. Thank you. And, no, this is a different uniform,” he answered.
“Oh.” She stepped away from the window. Of course he had more than one suit. She hadn’t thought about it specifically before, but that made perfect sense.
“I’m just a messenger tonight,” Superman confessed, holding out an envelope. “Clark asked me if I could deliver this to you. He was afraid you wouldn’t take it from him.”
“Afraid, huh?” Raising a brow, she cracked open the seal and noticed that Superman was still there. “Was there something else?”
Superman shifted from one foot to the other. “Clark asked that I destroy that after you read it,” he replied uncomfortably.
“Really?” She fanned the note in front of her face. “Do you know what’s in it? Poison pen note perhaps? A love letter?” she scoffed. “Yeah. Right. I’d be so lucky.” Then she realized she had said that out loud and flushed. “Not that I don’t get love letters. I do. Usually from inmates at the New Troy State Pen. It would be terrific to get one from a friend, though. Well, a friend I genuinely like. Not like Ralph or Jimmy or someone like that. Not that Ralph and Jimmy are anywhere near the same in that regard. Or Clark for that matter. Completely different league. It’s not that I like Clark that way. He’s been more than clear that we are ‘just friends’. Clark doesn’t like me that way nor would he ever send me a love letter. It’s more likely the former. A poison pen letter; after the way I’ve been treating Clark lately. Of course, he was the one who read my personal journal. Did he tell you about that?”
Lois decided at Superman’s stunned expression to railroad past it and hope she could make him forget what she had been saying by laying the blame thickly at Clark’s feet. “He and Jimmy broke into my computer at work, under the guise of clearing up some computer virus, and read a personal and very private file I had there. I have been having some strange dreams lately about… well, that’s not important, but what is important was that I was trying to organize my thoughts about them. Clark had thought… well, never mind what Clark thought. He was completely one hundred percent wrong. Well, that’s not important either. I hadn’t realized I had left it on my computer, much less left it open on my computer, and those guys read it and…” She buried her face in her hand. “How about I hand this note back to you and you fly out the window and fly back in thirty seconds and we just forget everything I’ve said since ‘hello’?”
“You didn’t say ‘hello’, Lois,” Superman reminded her.
She looked at the open note in her hand. “Probably best not to give this back to you as I’ve already opened it and it’s probably private.” Her eyes opened wide. “Not that
you would ever read anything private of mine, Superman. Or that Clark would ever ask you to deliver anything too private. Not that he would anyway…”
“Lois, how about I go answer a call for help and come back afterwards?” Superman suggested.
“You know when you told me that you couldn’t see how it would be possible for us to have a relationship. I’m beginning to see why.” She moved forward as he stepped onto her window sill. “I’m sorry.”
Superman cupped her jaw in the palm of his hand. “Don’t be. I enjoy your company,” he told her and disappeared out the window.
Lois stood at the window trying to slow her racing heart. “He must think I’m a fool. A silly, rambling fool,” she muttered to herself and pulled Clark’s note out of the envelope. What was it that Clark wanted her to know that he was afraid to give her himself. Or did Superman mean that he was afraid of Lois, not giving the note to Lois? She shook her head and began reading.
I have dreamed recently that I hold her in my arms and we fly up to the moon and look out over the stars. She caresses my cheek and tells me that she likes me just the way I am. Everything.
Walking. We walk a lot in my dreams. Walking with her is pure joy, because when we walk she holds my hand and talks. She says the most interesting things. I doubt my dreams do her justice in that regard.Lois swallowed, her cheeks hot. These were Clark’s dreams. His dreams about some woman that he was obviously enamored with.
Who is she? It sounded like her, but would Clark give her a note with his dreams about her in them? And then have Superman deliver them? No. Clark must like someone else. Her heart shattered as she tried to take a deep breath, but she was unable to catch it. Sobs formed in her chest and begged to be released. She took another look at Clark’s dreams. It was only fair after he had read hers.
I picture us sitting on a white sandy beach, lying in the sun. She chases me into the water, daring me to race. I let her win this time. She loves winning. It makes her face glow to beat me. I don’t mind losing to her.She choked back another sob. This woman sounded so much like her, she wished it could be her.
I sometimes have nightmares where I lose and cannot find her. It’s the not knowing that scares me the most. The not knowing if she’s hurt or dead or missing or just talking to a source.Lois gasped. He didn’t write that, did he? Who else talked to sources? Her heart began to pound in her chest.
But mostly, I dream of talking with her. We argue a lot. I don’t mind. I like that she has firm opinions about everything. I like that she’s willing to listen to my side and my opinions. And I even get a little rush on those rare occasions I can change her mind.She started to read about Clark’s dreams through this new prism. What if she herself was the illustrious ‘she’ of Clark’s dreams? Lois sighed. Did he really love her as much as she loved him? Had he lied to her about lying to her that day Stern announced the reopening of the Daily Planet? Her heart began to beat a mile a minute and she wiped her cheeks dry. She turned over the paper.
Often I picture us kissing. Sometimes, it’s a simple peck ‘hello’ and sometimes – often – it is more. We are walking, dancing, talking, eating, and I just turn to her and kiss her like it is the simplest thing in the world.Lois had never realized how romantic Clark was. She knew that he was a kind and generous and thoughtful gentleman. But his dreams reminded Lois of her own.
Sitting on my bed, we discuss what she wants for breakfast. I long to fill her every little whim. Croissants from Paris, done. Chocolates from Belgium, back in an instant. Fresh coffee and fruit from South America, no problemo. Farm fresh eggs, let me just swing by home. She rests her hand on my chest and says all she wants is me. She doesn’t need Superman. All she needs is me. I am the ice-cream in her hot fudge sundae. While the other ingredients are good, without me they are just toppings. I am what truly makes her life special. Then she leans in and kisses me. Her lips are soft and taste like honey. I could kiss her forever and it would never get old.She sighed. Lois couldn’t believe that Clark would write about these dreams unless
she were the woman in his dreams. She could never see Clark finding pleasure in writing about how wonderful a woman was and be describing someone other than her. It
had to be her! It had to.
She glanced back down at the paper and saw her name. Her heart caught in her throat until she realized that Clark had written her a note at the bottom of his list of dreams.
Lois,
I’m sorry I ever invaded your privacy. I hope that by sharing with you my recent dreams, I can start to rebuild your trust in me. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, please agree to accompany me to the Kerth Awards ceremony and banquet Saturday night. I cannot think of anyone else I would rather share this honor and night with than the woman who has made me the man you see before you.
Clark‘The man she saw before her’? Had Clark originally tried to deliver this note himself? She glanced up and saw Superman once more hovering outside her windows. Quickly, she dried her cheeks and let him inside.
“Is everything okay, Lois?” he asked in that concerned way he does.
Lois just stared at him. Poor Clark. She never realized how jealous he was of Superman. And she had spurned his love the past spring and asked him to send Superman to her. Oh, she would never forgive herself for doing that to Clark. For being so cruel. “You know Clark well, right, Superman?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Do you know who…?” No, she couldn’t ask Superman to reveal Clark’s secrets to her. Superman wasn’t a spy. She wiped the question from the air. “Never mind.”
“So, Lois, was it a love letter or a poison pen letter?” Superman teased.
Lois looked down at the folded paper in her hands. “That depends, Superman.” If she were the ‘she’ from Clark’s dreams, then it was a love letter to beat all love letters. If she wasn’t, and her heart ached at that possibility, then it was most certainly a poison pen letter.
She sighed. What she really wanted to do was keep the letter, reread it before she went to bed, and hope somehow to enter into his dreams… No. Clark had asked Superman to destroy the note and she couldn’t ask him to lie upon her behalf. She placed a smile on her lips. “He just asked me to go with him to the Kerth Awards ceremony again.” She held out the letter. “I’m sorry, Superman.”
His face fell so fast, she thought she had imagined it as he stilled his features once more. “Sorry?” He reached out for the letter.
“To put you between us,” she explained vaguely. “There is so much better use of your time.”
“Ah.” Superman exhaled and took the letter. He pulled but Lois’s fingers would not let go. “Lois?”
“You don’t have to destroy it, you know,” she suggested carelessly. “You could hold on to it and…” Her voice faded.
“To blackmail Clark later on?” Superman teased.
Her eyes shot to Superman’s and she let go of the note. “You
did read it.”
She saw a moment of panic before he responded. “From what you said earlier about him reading your private thoughts, I figured he must have decided to share his with you.”
“Oh. Right. Yes,” she replied.
He returned to the window and then paused, looking at her over his shoulder. “Have you forgiven him?”
A smile slipped onto her lips with a roll of her eyes. “I always forgive Clark.” She shrugged. “For some reason I can never stay mad at the man.”
Superman grinned and with a salute, dived out the window. He was a good friend to Clark.
***
“Am I losing my edge?” Lois asked, pacing back and forth next to Clark’s desk. These were the first words she had spoken to him today. No, ‘Hi, Clark. How are you?’ No, ‘Yes, I’ll go to the Kerth Awards with you’. Just manic Lois.
“Your edge?” he echoed. It was always best to know exactly what Lois was rambling about before one gave an opinion. The response clearly should be ‘no’, but one never knew if the obvious answer was the one she was looking for.
“When did it happen? Is it gone forever? You know, like socks. They go into the dryer but they never come out,” she said, enunciating every point with a wave of her hands.
“Lois,” he said calmly as he shifted in his chair to see her better. “You’re kind of babbling.”
“I know!” she screeched. “See, I never babble!”
“Are you kidding? You’re a brook,” he mumbled to himself.
“A what? I’m a what?” she gasped.
Thankfully, he didn’t think she had heard him. “The point being that you are the same reporter you’ve always been. Hard working, dedicated, maybe a little over the top sometimes…” Manic Lois disappeared at these words, so he continued. “You could use a few more vacations, maybe a semblance of a life…” Now, who was rambling?
“Is this leading anywhere?”
“Lois,” Clark said with a smile at her annoyed words. “You are the best reporter in the city. You always have been. And you always will be.”
“Oh, Clark,” Lois said, sitting on the edge of his desk and actually looking a bit weepy. “You’re such a good friend.”
Oh, boy. Friend. Lucky him. Well, it was a step up from computer hacking imbecile.
“I’m sorry I got all wound up about that stupid award,” she apologized.
“Not even the award,” he clarified. “Just a nomination.”
“Exactly! How ridiculous?!” She stood up and started heading back to her desk. “So, are we still on for the awards?”
“‘We’?” Clark asked with a heavy dose of skepticism. He didn’t recall her ever accepting his invitation. “Wait. Wait. Wait. What’s all this ‘we’ stuff all of a sudden?”
“Well, you said I was the best,” she retorted coyly as she returned to his desk. Lois really knew how to soften him up, didn’t she?
“Yeah,” he admitted that was what he had said. He added in a silent, ‘so, what?’
“So, who do you want for a partner? The worst?” she said, turning his words back on him.
He scoffed. “No, but…”
“So, are we going to quibble about this or are we going to go together to this award thing or not?” She crossed her arms and stared at him. Had she just accepted his invitation or had she just told him they were going together? Did it really matter?
“Are you going as my partner or my date?” he inquired softly.
Lois shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she contemplated answering his question. He hoped she didn’t toss back his question into his face, seeking out his preference. She put her palms on his desk and leaned towards him.
Clark swallowed, guessing that she had completely forgotten that she was wearing that undercover rocker babe outfit which didn’t cover her bosom in the slightest. He was tempted to tell her he liked her red bra, but thankfully the words got caught in his throat.
“Let’s just say, that I’m going as your partner undercover as your date,” she replied.
He cleared his throat.
Undercover? “So, you’re going to be a pretend date?” Why, oh why did he ask that?
She licked her lips. “I’m going to be the best awards ceremony date you’ve ever had,” she told him.
He resisted the impulse to remind her that she would be the only awards ceremony date he had ever had. “Oh.” Either it was going to be the best night of his life or the worst.
***
Superman ran towards Stoke and Lois, but he hit some kind of invisible wall and was bounced backwards.
“As you can see, this glove is not just an affectation, Superman,” Lenny Stoke said, his arm wrapped tightly around Lois’s shoulders, a gun stuck into her gut. “This is a little something I dreamt up called the ‘Wall of Sound’. A sonic barrier so dense that nothing can get through it, not even you.”
Superman tried to penetrate the barrier again and was once more bounced back.
“No plug to pull. Independent power supply,” Stoke informed him.
He stared at Lois, seeing the fear streaking across her face. She was so close, yet he was unable to reach her.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. That lantern-jawed look of concern for human life. How Superman of you,” Stoke taunted him.
Clark looked Lois in the eye, apologizing for not being able to do more for her. She gazed back at him, accepting his apology and forgiving him. He didn’t deserve her.
Stoke caught this little non-verbal exchange. “Am I missing something? Is there something going on that I’m not aware of?” he asked.
Clark focused on Lois’s terrified face again for a split second.
“She’s your girl, isn’t she?” Stoke nodded with a chuckle. “Huh? That’s very romantic. It is unfortunate, however, because she only has five seconds to live.” He pulled Lois closer and jabbed her with the gun. “Four… Three… Two…”
Lois gasped with pain, but there was nothing Superman could do but leave as Stoke wanted him to do.
“No,” Lois cried out as he left, tearing Clark’s heart in two. “No!” she screamed out, tearing those two parts into four. With each scream his heart became even more in shreds and his anger grew.
“I know, darling, but you’ll see, I’m much more fun,” Stoke told Lois as he pulled her away.
That was the last thing Clark heard before he was out of range. He went faster and faster than he had ever gone before. Soon, he crashed through the wall of Stoke’s basement lair and took away the man’s ‘Wall of Sound’ glove and his gun. Superman gave Lenny Stoke one of his intense stares and pulverized the gun, tossing it away. He did the same with the glove. Then he turned off the power to Stoke’s Soundman device.
Lois crossed her arms and walked towards Superman with a satisfied grin on her face. She turned back to Stoke. “Like I was trying to tell you, this was a bad idea, because you don’t want to make him mad.”
Stoke was still in awe of Superman. “How did you do that?”
“Simple. I broke the sound barrier. Let’s go for a little ride, Lenny,” Superman suggested.
“You see, I have this problem. It’s kind of a Rain Man thing. I hate flying,” Stoke admitted, quivering.
“You’d hate it more if I dropped you, so you better hold still,” Superman argued, picking Stoke up and flying off.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of Lois standing there with a knowing smile on her face. Terrific, she knew that Superman was in love with her. How was Clark ever going to have a chance now?
***
Perry chuckled as he, Lois, and Clark walked out of the Awards banquet. Clark held the Kerth award for his story on the nursing home scandal.
“Oh, boy, what an evening,” their boss gushed. “I tell ya, now I know exactly how the Colonel felt when Elvis brought home that first gold record. Clark! I’m so proud of you, I can’t see straight.”
Lois tucked her arm in Clark’s. “Not as proud as I am. That was a great speech.”
Clark smiled. He was at a loss for words whenever she looked at him like that. Actually, he had been at a loss for words for much of the evening. Since the moment he had picked Lois up and seen her with her hair swept up off her neck and that black-as-the-night’s-sky evening gown, with that pendant hanging down her chest. His eyes had been fixed on her all evening and his tongue tied. Luckily for him, Lois was good at filling silences.
“Now, that’s quite an attitude change. What brought that about?” Perry asked Lois as she returned Clark’s smile.
“I’m just glad to have such a good partner,” she responded, looking deep into Clark’s eyes. He didn’t know if she was being honest or if this was the undercover part as his date she was playing. Her words seemed almost tongue in cheek. At the moment, he hoped for the former, but predicted the latter to surface soon.
A car horn honked and their boss waved his fingers at the waiting car. The Chief lowered his voice conspiratorially as he leaned towards Lois. “Every time Alice sees me in one of these monkey suits, she says she can’t wait to get me home and tear it off.” He bounced his eyebrows at his reporters. “I’ll see you two later.”
Lois and Clark laughed as they watched him head towards his car. Lois tucked her hand around Clark’s arm again as they headed across the street.
“Where to now?” he inquired. Clark was having too much of a good time to end the night already. He had an award for his reporting (and not for being a hero) and he had Lois on his arm. He wished the night would never end.
A cab pulled up and she turned to him, her face next to his as she whispered, “Take me home, Clark.”
“Okay,” Clark replied, following her into the cab. Who was he to argue if she wanted to spend more time with him? He could ride in the cab with her to her apartment and then float on home.
Lois placed her hand around his arm again after giving the driver her address.
“Are you cold?” he asked, lifting his arm and wrapping it around her shoulders. It was still warm for an early autumn evening, but she hadn’t brought a wrap.
She shook her head and then rested it on his shoulder.
“Tired?”
“Not so much,” she said quietly. “I had a good time.”
They talked about the food, the speeches, and other reporters they had met. Filling the silence, but not really saying anything of importance. Clark still had his glass award tucked into the curve of his arm. It felt good there, but not as good as who he had tucked against his other side.
He wondered when Lois would come out of her undercover assignment as she had called their date and start to tell him what she really had thought of the evening. He knew it was going to happen sooner or later. He kept hoping that it would be later, much later… as in never. The anticipation was killing him.
“So, how did I rate as a date?” Lois asked as the cab pulled up outside her building.
“Oh, A plus,” Clark commended her.
“I hung on your arm decoratively?”
“You did.”
“Fawned appropriately?” she inquired.
“Absolutely.” This was beginning to sound like the end of her undercover assignment. Was his best friend and partner about to make an appearance?
“And just faded into the background during your big moment?” she continued.
“You were beautiful, yet invisible,” he agreed with another smile. He didn’t want to push his limits and compliment her on her appearance once again. “Thank you, Lois.”
She raised a brow as her hand touched the door handle. “Did your mother teach you to drop a woman off on her doorstep after a date?”
Clark flushed. “No,” he admitted. “Shall I walk you up?”
Lois stepped out of the cab. “If you want…”
He wanted. So, he handed the cabbie the fare and followed Lois up her front stoop.
Clark watched as she fumbled with her keys and finally got the door to her building open. This was it. Time for the end of the date kiss. He leaned in and kissed her cheek goodnight. It was at that moment, he realized that she was holding the door open for him.
Right. Door to door service. It had been so long since he had been on a proper date. Even though he knew this wasn’t a real date, just a non-date between work partners, he should at least conform to the rules of dating etiquette.
Anyway, Kent, he admonished himself.
You usually walk her to her apartment door. A part of him still feared the wrath of Lois Lane soon to emerge and he wanted to avoid it at all costs.
“Thank you,” was all he could think to say as he stepped into her building. She had been keeping up her end of the talking all night. Now that it was just the two of them, his silence almost seemed deafening. They took the elevator up to the fifth floor.
Clark searched his mind for something trivial to say. He lifted up his award. “It’s smaller than I thought.”
“Not quite as shiny, close-up.” Lois nodded, glancing at the award. “You know, you win a few of these and you find out that they don’t mean as much. A quick rush. A few pats on the back. Then you’re back on the beat, only as good as your last story,” she warned, letting some of the shine of the evening fade.
“Where do you think I should keep it?” he asked as he wondered where she kept hers.
“I’m the wrong person to ask. I keep mine at the back of a closet,” she told him too casually as they walked down the hall to her door.
Like hell! Clark thought. He wondered if she would invite him in, so he could take a quick peek around for their true location of importance. Instantly he felt chagrined for hoping that Lois would invite him into her apartment so he could spy on her. Some date he was. Instead, he decided that Superman could visit Lois after he left. She was sure to show
him where her awards were. First bitterness, then guilt, and then anticipation washed over him.
Bitterness that Lois liked Superman more than she liked Clark.
Guilt for being bitter at Lois, being jealous of himself, for still deceiving Lois in this manner, and for using his Superman persona as a way to spend more time with Lois in a way Clark himself couldn’t.
Anticipation at seeing Lois look at him the way she did when he was Superman. There was still a thrill that shot through him when she looked at Superman with adoration. Excitement in her eyes whenever he showed up. Gratitude. Okay, most times when he showed up as Superman, he was saving her life, which is why she looked at him with gratitude.
Would she be excited to see Superman, especially after learning from Stoke that the Man of Steel loved her? Despite his confession from the past spring that he could never picture them in a relationship? Would knowing Superman’s true feelings change their relationship? Should he let anything come of it?
He realized that they were standing at Lois’s door. She watched him as he just stood there, holding his award, his thoughts a million miles away. Or more actually, ten minutes into the future when he would fly to her window and hope for a chance to be invited in. It felt like more of a chance than Clark being invited in. He filled with regret. It was wrong to be there as Clark and daydreaming of being with her as Superman. He didn’t want her to want that other side of him. He wanted her to want this side of him. The real side. Who he truly was. Why couldn’t she love Clark instead? But he would take what he could get.
Lois reached up and caressed his face. It was an intimate gesture, too intimate.
“Okay, Lois, you’re taking this joke too far,” Clark finally said after the initial tingling sensation faded.
She froze stiff. “Excuse me?”
“I can’t take it anymore.” He set his award down next to the door, causing her hand to fall from his face. “When are you going to chastise me for bringing you as my date to this thing? Forcing you to sit idly by as someone other than you was honored for excellence in Investigative Reporting? When are you going to scream at me and tell me that you might do this for me once, but you’d rip out my spleen if I made you live through another night like this again?” He threw up both his hands in frustration. “I can't wait any longer. Can we just get that part of the evening over with already?”
“Wow! Have I been that transparent?” she asked softly. “And here I thought I was being the perfect date. I laughed at your jokes. I talked to your friends and told them funny stories about working with you. Not once turning the conversation to myself and my accomplishments. I cheered and clapped the loudest when you got your award. And still it wasn’t enough.”
Her words stabbed him. Had she been acting this way so that
he could have the ideal night? And he went and yelled at her for it. Accused her of what exactly? Putting on an act? Being phony? “Enough?”
Lois focused on the keys in her hand, not looking him in the eye. “I’m not her, am I?”
Her? “Who?” Clark whispered. He wondered if Lois could hear his question over the pounding of his heart.
“The woman of your dreams,” Lois replied, bringing her keys up to her first lock.
Lois had wanted to be the woman from his dreams? This fact stunned him. Of course, she was the woman of his dreams. Who else could there be?
She moved down to the next lock. “The woman with whom you want to talk, dance, walk, kiss… basically share your life in your dreams.” Lois turned the key in the third lock as her voice rose. “The woman you were thinking about just now, instead of me.
That woman!” Her keys dropped from her hand as she pounded his chest. “Why can’t
I be that woman? Why, Clark? Why can’t you love me?”
Clark pulled her into his arms and held her tight, not only because it stopped her from beating his chest, but because he needed to feel her in his embrace. He kissed the top of her head. Eventually her fists stopped hitting him and he could hear her crying.
Oh, no, what had he done? He had been daydreaming about being with Lois as Superman that he had forgotten to be there as Clark. He had to set the record straight. “You are the woman of my dreams,” he said into her hair, wondering if she could hear him above her tears. “I have loved you so long, I can’t remember what life was like before I loved you.”
“You’re just saying that,” he heard her murmur against his chest. “Then who were thinking of just now?”
“You,” he replied honestly. “The real you. The one who would have teased me insistently about being nominated for a nursing home scandal article. About how the judges were morons if they couldn’t see that your drug cartel story was two hundred times better. The one who would have stolen my dessert while I was making my acceptance speech and then claimed I had eaten it myself beforehand. The one who would have invited me inside for a coffee, so I could scope out where you really keep your awards because I know you well enough to know that they aren’t in the back of any closet.”
“Really?” she scoffed with a nudge. “You weren’t thinking about kissing me? This perfect date of a woman? Thanks, Mr. Romance.”
He chuckled as his heart soared. She thought of him as romantic? She thought about kissing him? “I’ve learned it’s not best to think about kissing you when you’re nearby because then I cannot think of anything else.” He brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “Anyway, you are in love with Superman. Why should I torture myself by daydreaming of kisses you would rather be giving to him?”
“Oh, you stupid, stupid man. I love you.”
This couldn’t be real. He was in bed, asleep. He was sure of that now. There was no way the real Lois would tell Clark that she loved
him over Superman. “But your dreams…”
“Oh, Clark,” Lois murmured, shaking her head in disbelief. “Superman isn’t the man of my dreams. He isn’t the one who knows how I like my coffee. He isn’t the man who holds me when I cry. He isn’t the man who stays around as I go off on one of my rants. He isn’t the man who stands up to me and sends me off to plod through muck, because my ego has gotten too big. He isn’t the man who offers me his jacket when it’s cold. Or buys me a snow cone when it’s hot. He isn’t the man I wanted to be with when I was scared of my own shadow. He isn’t the man who I play games with. Nor would he let me win just to make me happy. And he definitely wouldn’t lie about doing so either.” A slight pouty smile graced her lips as her gaze turned scolding for a moment. “He isn’t the man who’s there with me when the building isn’t on fire or bullets aren’t whizzing past my head or there isn’t a bomb to defuse. He doesn’t know that I need chocolate to think straight. And he isn’t the man I pictured in my head when I realized I was walking down the aisle to the wrong man. Superman may save my body, but you, Clark, you have saved my heart, more times than I can count.”
Her eyes stared into his as she spoke these words and Clark could see a few remaining dots of moisture on her eyelashes from her tears. He wanted nothing more than to kiss them away. So, he did. He could hear her heart began to beat faster as his lips moved to her cheek. Then since it was his dream, and he might as well make it perfect, he touched his lips to hers.
Her hands slid up his chest from where she had been holding on to his lapels to his shoulders and around his neck. She pulled him to her tighter as if she herself were dreaming and was afraid that if she let go one or the other of them would wake up. He felt the same way.
Clark wanted to memorize the dampness of her soft lips against his.
The way she tasted of salt from her tears, with a hint of chocolate and coffee from dessert, and dab of Chardonnay.
He could smell the cleanliness of the soap from the restroom at the Press Club, but that was overpowered by some flowery scent – a new perfume? – that she had applied behind her ear. That, if he could move his lips away from her mouth, would make him kiss down her bare neck.
He wanted to remember how the noise of the city faded into the background and, for once in his life, all he could hear was the beat of her heart and a slight moan of contentment she tried to stifle. Once she allowed it to emerge, Lois deepened the kiss, opening her mouth wider and running her tongue over his dry lips, causing a slight sucking sound between kisses.
Reluctantly, she retreated, pulling her lips from his. They stood there in the hall, their foreheads against one another breathless from the passion of that kiss.
Lois bent down, retrieving her keys from the ground and starting to open her final lock. She opened the door and turned back to him, placing her hand on his cheek. “Thank you for a memorable night, Clark.”
“But if I try kissing you like that again, you’ll rip out my spleen?” he asked, doubting the sincerity of her words. He still couldn’t believe that she liked him.
An evil smile came to her kiss-swollen lips. “If you ever try not to kiss me again, Clark, if you pretend that this night didn’t happen, then goodbye spleen,” Lois warned.
“So, this isn’t a dream?” he replied.
“What would it take for you to believe that this isn’t a dream?” she countered.
“You could invite me in and we could see if that kiss thing was beginner’s luck?” Clark suggested.
Lois laughed. “Didn’t your father teach you that you shouldn’t expect more than a goodnight kiss on a first date?”
“Well, yes, but…” But… But… he wanted more! If that was her goodnight kiss, what would a kiss without a goodnight be like?
“Goodnight, Clark,” Lois said, giving him a slight push towards the elevators.
He decided not to push his already better than a pot of gold luck. “Goodnight, Lois.”
Clark got about halfway down the hall when she called to him, “Forget something there, Partner?”
He ran back and swooped her into his arms, bumping her door open with his hip as he carried her inside, his mouth never leaving hers.
Lois threw back her head and let a bubble of giggles escape. “Clark, your award!” He noticed she still had her arms around his neck.
“Eh. I can win one of those every year; true love comes but once a lifetime,” he replied, kissing her again.
She pressed her lips into a line and crossed her arms, so without enthusiasm Clark set her feet back on the ground.
“Too much?”
“Goodnight, Clark.”
Unable to resist, he kissed her nose. “Goodnight, Lois.” He went back out the door, picking up his award on his way.
He practically floated down the hall to the elevator, when he heard her call out to him once more. “Clark, didn’t you have a secret you wanted to tell me?”
Clark turned to see her resting against her door frame, and grinned. “Nope,” he said, stepping into the elevator with a wave goodbye.
***End of Part 2 ***Tune in tomorrow for my
"Over the Top" Epilogue Comments
