I am going to go ahead and post this - though it is with fear and trepidation because I finally got part 20 approved - yes 20. Because all of 21 got kicked out as well :p . Half of 20 did too...
Of course, Kathy and HG were right, but I'm not dwelling on that part but on the part where I have 2 more chapters of buffer at this point :p .
I do hope to write more today but the brainpower just isn't there at the moment so we'll have to see how it goes later...
Anyway, thanks for sticking with me
.
Last time
"Ching, don't do it!" Sarah pleaded.
"It's the only way to prove to you that I'm right. Four."
Sarah, distracted by Ching's actions, had loosened her grip on Lois' wrists.
Lois wrenched away from the other woman, diving towards the man in the force field.
"Lois! No!"
She could hear Clark yelling as she struggled with the other man. He threw her off, spun her around and she found herself staring at Clark.
With the gun pointed directly at her temple.
*~*18*~*Clark stared at Lois as she dove for the man in the black suit.
Miller, Ching, whoever he was quickly got the upper hand and she was turned so that he could look directly at her eyes.
And the gun pointed at her temple.
"Can you do it, Superman?" the other man gasped. He was breathing heavily after his brief fight with Lois. Was he weakening as well? "Can you make it through a Kryptonite force field in time to stop me from shooting your wife?"
"Ching. I command you to stop."
Clark glanced at Sarah again. Why was she ordering Ching? What kind of relationship did they have that she could 'command' him?
"Three."
"What's killing her going to prove?" Clark asked him. "That you have Kryptonite?"
"It'll prove that I'm right. That you're not the one."
"The one?" Clark asked, puzzled. "What 'one'?"
"Tick tock, Superman. Two."
"Whatever it is, Ching, Miller, whoever you are, it's not worth killing over." Clark prepared himself, taking a runner's starting stance as he stared at the two of them.
Ching's eyes grew calm. "Yes, it is. One." His finger tightened nearly imperceptibly on the trigger.
"No!" Clark yelled. He screamed as he pressed forward, the pain nearly too excruciating to go on.
But he had to save her.
Ching, too, but Lois...
He had to save her.
His shoulder collided with the other man as Lois twisted away. The two men landed in a crumbled heap.
Clark slumped in the corner, aware only of Lois' hands on his face mere seconds later.
"Clark," she cried. "Clark!"
He struggled to open his eyes.
"Why?" Lois asked. "Why did you do this?"
"I..." He heard Ching speaking. "What have I done? He is the one."
Clark couldn't open his eyes, couldn’t move anything.
He felt a hand on his chest.
"Get your hands off my husband!"
He could hear what he guessed was Lois and Sarah fighting, before he felt the hand on his chest again.
"He's going to be all right." That was Sarah's voice. "Let's tell the others."
He heard a 'whooshing' sound he knew he should recognize before everything went blessedly black.
He came to some time later.
He was in his bed and the Suit was gone.
"Lois?" he managed to croak.
He heard footsteps and then she was there next to him.
"Hey," she said softly. "How are you?"
"I tell you what... Kryptonite is a humbling experience." He wanted to push himself up to sit against the headboard but he didn't think he had the strength just yet.
"Your parents are on their way," she told him, brushing his hair back off his forehead. "I didn't know what else to do so I called them. Your dad said to get you comfortable and they'd be here as soon as they could."
"And getting me comfortable meant getting me naked?" he asked with as much of a grin as he could muster.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that Suit off of you?" she asked back with a raised brow. "That thing is *tight*."
"It's *Spandex*. It's supposed to be tight. Dad said it would cut down on wind resistance."
"But you're so heavy," she complained good-naturedly. "I bet it'd be hard to get your regular clothes off without your help, much less the Suit." She stretched out next to him on the bed, one hand resting on his chest. "Clark, Sarah and... Ching or Miller or whoever he is... First, they tried to kill you and me and then they said you were the one – the one what?"
"I have no idea."
"But then they... *flew*!"
He wasn't sure he heard her right. "What?!"
"They *flew*," she repeated. "How could they fly?"
"I don't know. I was the one unconscious on the floor remember? But they *flew*?"
"They flew," she confirmed. "And nobody on Earth has ever had your powers."
He reached up and cupped her face in his hand. "No. And I'm the only Kryptonian around."
Lois bit her bottom lip, her expression thoughtful. "Do you think there's any possibility that... they aren't *from* Earth?" She shook her head. "No. That's crazy. It's a dumb idea." She looked at him, sure there were tears filling her eyes no matter how hard she tried to keep them at bay. "Right? Tell me I haven't been right about other Kryptonians and the Krypto-chick isn't coming back for you."
"It's not dumb," he told her, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as she shifted to rest her head on his shoulder. "The message you heard from my father seemed to indicate that there may have been others get off the planet as well. Maybe they went somewhere else and just got here."
"Maybe." She fiddled with the sheet where it met his skin, her fingers brushing against his chest. "Clark, do you know how Sarah spells her name?"
"S-a-r-a-h, I guess."
"What if it's S-a-r-a? Sa-Ra. Sa from the House of Ra or something?" She looked up at him.
His hand moved from her shoulder to her temple, brushing her hair back as he turned to kiss her lightly. "Do you really think that's likely?"
She was silent for a long minute. "She flew. The only people who can fly are Kryptonian. So Sarah must be Kryptonian. Sa-Ra. Why not? She's your birth wife coming back for you, isn't she?"
He felt something hit his skin. "Are you crying?" he asked, looking at her in surprise.
She sniffled. "No," she protested weakly.
He winced, but pushed up onto his elbow, twisting so he was facing her. "What is it, honey? You really think Sarah is a Kryptonian chick wanting to take me off to some rock as her husband?"
"Why not?"
"Even if she is the birthwife my father mentioned, that doesn’t mean she gets me. That doesn't mean I'll sleep with her at night. That doesn't mean I could ever love her or make love to her. That doesn't mean she means any more to me than anyone else does. *You* are my wife. Period."
Lois smiled at him as he leaned over to kiss her gently. "Silly, isn't it?"
He didn’t answer but kissed her again. He wrapped his arm more tightly around her as they kissed again and again, even with the sheet and comforter between them.
And then...
The sound of a key in the lock brought them back to the present. The door opened and there were footsteps on the landing.
"Lois? Clark?"
Clark rested his forehead against hers with a sigh. "I think we need a new lock," he whispered.
"I think you're right," she whispered back. She rolled away from him, standing up as she did. "He's in here," she called. "He'll be right out."
She dug around in his dresser and tossed some clothes at him before heading towards the living room.
Clark sighed again and slowly got dressed.
*****
TBC
