Don't know why I'm finding this so funny....
"So have you ever been to Paris?" Lois asked when the hum of the road began to feel endless.
"France?"
"No, Texas. Of course, France." She glared at the distance between them and the SUV. Would it kill him to speed up, just a little?
"I've been to Paris in France, in Texas and in Idaho."
I suppose I like it so much because I can't get over the fact that there's supposed to be a Malmö (probably spelled Malmo, though) somewhere in the U.S.A.
"Lex killed her. She thought he was in love with her and he killed her. They'd even talked about marriage. When it came right down to it, though, she was just a means to an end for him.
And Lex said he was in love with Lois, too. Wonder what plans he really had for her? (And Bender, poor fool, thought he worked for Lex. Actually, Bender, you did.)
Do you know what Mrs. Cox said was behind Lex's love for me?"
Clark shook his head - he didn't even want to guess.
"Superman," Lois said softly. "He thought that Superman was in love with me. That I was his weakness and he could use me to control Superman."
And maybe there was another thing, too - whatever Superman can have, Lex wants to prove that he can snatch away from Superman right in front of Superman's eyes.
"I was seduced by him, I guess. Suddenly everything was possible. I really could have the world, if I wanted it. Which I didn't. Honest, I never would have asked him for anything. At least, I don't think I would have." She glanced back over at Clark. "What would you have done? What if you had power? True power? What would you do with it?"
"Help people," he answered without hesitation. "I would use all that money and power to help others."
So Lois. So Clark.
Nice? She thought again about how he had kissed her and then carried her to the door last night. She should have picked a different word.
I'm not sure. Clark is gloriously, sensually, beautifully nice.
The first was the slam of the door to the house. And the second was the unmistakable opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
Dah-dah-dah-daaahhh! Dah-dah-dah-daaahhh! Lois, don't you know when to turn off your phone, or at least when to turn off Beethoven?
A shot rang out and Bender slumped to the ground with a soft moan. Gretchen Kelly let out a small laugh of delight as she sidled closer to Lex. "Nice shot, Lex," she gushed.
Sure, Gretchen. And you are perfectly safe with Lex, I'll bet.
"Lois, it's okay. I'll go." Clark touched her elbow and desperately wished he could tell her the truth. He was pretty sure Nigel meant to shoot him someplace where Lois wouldn't have to watch. They were doing him a favor in getting him away from the Kryptonite. He could only trust that Luthor wouldn't do anything to hurt Lois before he could come up with a plan to get them both away from here. Clark released her arm and pulled his flannel shirt off before holding it out to her. "It'll be cold later, you might need this."
"No," she whispered. She took the shirt anyway, her fingers instinctively closing around the fabric. It was still warm from his body and that sent a chill through her. "This isn't happening."
This is so beautiful and devastating and heartbreaking. Even though we know Clark can't be killed by an ordinary bullet, and even though we know that this "execution" may in fact be what it takes to save both Lois and Clark, it's still so horrifying. I'm so moved by the way Lois takes Clark's shirt, whose warmth from Clark's body could soon be the only thing she has left of Clark.
He bent and kissed her cheek, then whispered near her ear. "Will you promise me something, Lois?"
"Clark..." Her entire body seemed to have gone stiff and cold with dread.
"Promise me you'll remember that I wanted to tell you - right now - only I couldn't?"
"Tell me what?" she asked in a voice thick with fear.
He pulled her against him, his arms wrapping around her in a tight hug. She was still clutching his shirt between them in her numb fingers even as her mind screamed that this was her last chance ever to hold him and she was squandering it.
"I can't say right now." His words were like a caress against her ear. "Just promise me, please."
"I promise." She wasn't even sure what she was promising him.
Beautiful and devastating.
Her head was swimming. Hold him! Her mind screamed the words over and over. Hold him while you still can. Tell him the truth. Tell him how much he means to you. Her arms moved mechanically to embrace him and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. It was a bad dream. It had to all be just a bad dream.
"I love you, Lois. I always have."
"No," she whispered fiercely into the soft cotton of his t-shirt. "No. This isn't how it ends."
Clark couldn't say what he wanted to say to Lois, and Lois couldn't say what she wanted to say to Clark.
"It's not the end," he whispered back and tipped her chin up to meet his eyes. "I promise."
He looked so confident and unafraid and she marveled at his composure. His thumb swept lightly across her cheek and wiped a tear away. "Please don't cry," he murmured. Then he bent down and brushed a light kiss on her lips. "I'll see you again soon, I promise."
This is Clark at his most glorious, lovely, caring, gentle "nice".
She slumped to the deck, staring blindly at his unmoving body far below her. Sorrow filled her, so deep and overwhelming that she couldn't even cry. She could only stare at Clark's body in mute disbelief.
The most devastating grief is mute. It has no tears.
He gave Lois a soothing pat on the shoulder, knowing that, in time, she would understand this was for the best.
Is this guy's self-satisfaction for real?
If only she could have last night back. She would have stayed in his arms all night. She would have slept next to him on the couch and told him out loud the words she had only whispered to herself. She loved him. She had really, truly loved him. The gentlest, kindest person she had ever known had just been callously murdered right in front of her and she had never told him that she loved him.
If only we could turn back time.
She should have hugged him back. She should have kissed him one last time. She should have stayed in his arms for as long as possible. It was unthinkable that those arms were now slack and lifeless.
This gets to me so strongly. The idea that a person who was alive just a little while ago is now dead. Slack. And we can never again tell them that we love them.
Ann