Big day. Very tired. Spending most of Tuesday at the Extreme Home Makeover site - hopefully - taking my two older girls/babysitters' daughter/friend. Ashley Tisdale is giving a free concert afterwards which they'll wig out about but I'll be gone ALL DAY. Like 645-7am until ... ????
Anyway - thanks to Kathy!
Last time
So Lois was in the bed in the other room, probably naked as the day she was born, and he was out here for the foreseeable future.
It was better that way, he told himself. Much better.
"Good night, Clark," came her voice from beyond the door.
He couldn’t bring himself to respond.
"*Good* night, Clark."
He sighed.
"Good *night*, Cl-ark." She was starting to sound annoyed.
"Good night, Lois," he finally called back.
Long night was more like it.
Very, very long night.
*~*12*~*
The snick of the door closing in the outer room woke Lois the next morning.
"Clark?" she called sleepily, sitting half way up before she remembered how brazen she'd been the night before, sleeping only in her underwear. She held the sheet to her bare chest as she looked around.
There.
On the nightstand was a note.
'Lois,
I told the desk you needed a wake-up call at six-thirty so if you're not up by then, you'll get one. I'm headed out to watch the Navy ships. I should be back in a couple hours. If you're not here, I'll check the Planet.
Clark'
She blushed hotly at the thought of him being in the room while she was wearing so little clothes. Even if she had made sure the sheets covered her completely as she slept.
She'd been right the night before. Sleeping on the satin sheets had been heavenly. It likely would have been more heavenly to sleep on them either completely naked, something she hadn't been able to bring herself to do, or with Clark, both of them naked or nearly so after...
She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to go there.
She looked around, just to make sure she was really alone, before climbing out of bed and putting on a pair of Clark's shorts and his blue shirt she'd worn the day before.
She called Perry to find out that there was nothing new on that end – and she had nothing to report except that Clark was out waiting for a meeting with Superman. She was staying there, keeping up surveillance on the Apocalypse offices.
A knock on the door didn't surprise her. Perry had said he was sending some more files over. She glanced in the mirror. She looked a bit disheveled but there wasn't much she could do about it. She ran her hand through her hair, pulling it into a sloppy ponytail, as she headed towards the door.
She opened the door, surprised and annoyed to see Sarah standing there.
"Good morning," Lois said as the other woman stood there. She was suddenly very glad that she was wearing Clark's clothes and looking like she'd just woken up.
"Morning." Sarah looked around and behind Lois at the room. "Is Mr. Lane here?"
Lois shook her head. "He, um, left earlier. He wasn't sure when he was going to be back." She gestured to the room. "Won't you come in for a minute and show me what you've got?"
Sarah hesitated before nodding. Lois glanced towards the bedroom, glad she'd left the door wide open, leaving the clothes on the floor and a very messy bed fully visible.
Lois shut the door behind them. Sarah handed over the file folders she'd brought. Apocalypse Consulting was owned by NSJ Inc., but they hadn't gotten any further than that. NSJ was owned by some other entity but even Jimmy – and his dad – hadn't been able to get any further than that.
There was the sound of a keycard in the door to the suite. Lois looked up from where she was sitting on the couch to see Clark walk in, a satisfied look on his face.
"Hey," he said, his face lighting up when he saw her. "All taken care of." He saw Sarah standing there. "Superman talked to the captains of the ships in question to make sure that the test had been called off. It had been. Roarke and Bart have been arrested and Harrington has been brought in for questioning."
"Ten to one says he says he was setting up a sting of some kind," Lois said with a roll of her eyes.
"Got it in one." Clark sat next to her, his arm stretching around the back of the couch – close to her but not touching.
"Well, um, I guess you won't be needing this stuff here then," Sarah said, standing and taking the file folders with her. "I'll, uh, see you back at the Planet."
Clark, ever the gentleman, stood and walked her to the door. "Thank you, Sarah. Tell Perry we'll be in before long?"
Sarah nodded. "I will. Thanks."
He shut the door behind Sarah. He turned to Lois. "Alone at last without a potential tsunami looming over us," he said dramatically.
She laughed. "And without the new girl who has a crush on you."
He zipped back to the couch, this time wrapping his arms around her. "Just you and me."
Lois rested her head against him. "We should probably head back to your grandpa's, though. Check out and get back there so I can change and then head back to work."
He gave her a long, lingering kiss before zipping around the suite, setting the bags by the door. "Why don't I put these in the Jeep and then we'll *fly* back to Gramps' place?"
Her eyes lit up. "Really?"
He nodded. "Really."
"I would *love* that," she said with a huge grin.
He gave her another lingering kiss. "I'll be right back."
Lois wandered around the suite for a few minutes as he took the bags down to his Jeep. She wondered idly what it would be like to share the suite with Clark if they really were on their honeymoon. She had no doubt that it would be amazing.
Super, even.
She smiled to herself.
"Dollar for your thoughts." The quiet voice startled her.
She turned to see Clark leaning against the door, smiling at her.
Lois shrugged. "Nothing really."
"Wondering what it would be like if we were really here for real?" he asked, his smile growing nearly imperceptibly.
"The thought crossed my mind," she answered, turning away from him.
"Tell you what. Someday, I'll bring you back here for real," he told her, crossing the room and resting his hands on her shoulders before running them up and down her arms.
"I like you a lot, Clark, and I know you like me, too, and I know it only has to last once, but what if *we* aren't the one that lasts?"
"Then I hope the lucky guy, whoever he ends up being, takes you somewhere even more amazing. But I have this feeling that it's you and me from here on out."
"I hope so," she said softly. "And not just because of the flying."
"I haven't even taken you flying yet."
"And when exactly are you going to rectify that?"
"Now." He moved away from her taking her hand and leading her towards the door. She followed him, surprised when he led her to the stairs and then onto the roof.
He let go of her hand, stepping away from her before crossing his arms in front of his chest.
He turned into a blur that turned blue and red before coming to a stop. His arms were still crossed in front of him, but he was Superman.
"Wow," Lois breathed before he scooped her into his arms and lifted into the air.
*****
TBC
