Wedding Consequences: 6/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"Do your parents know that your ... your powers are gone?"
He nodded, threading his way through the field in such a way as to avoid the worst of the stickers and rocks. "They're probably worried sick. There's nothing I can do about it, though, until we find some sort of civilization. Maybe we'll run into a road or something eventually. If we do, our problems will be solved."
"I sure hope so," Lois said. "I'd sure like to know where we are, though."
"Judging by the temperature at night, we're at a pretty high elevation. I'm betting we're in the Rocky Mountains," Clark said. "What I'd like to know is why they dumped us here!"
"Well, they expected us to crash," Lois pointed out. "They couldn't know that you could land a plane. If it happened in a remote area, it would be quite a while before searchers found the wreck -- if they ever did -- and that gives whoever is after Lex's fortune plenty of time to prepare legal stuff to try to get control of it again. They could probably do it, too."
"I wouldn't bet against it," Clark agreed. He stopped for a minute, and Lois waited patiently. Clark had been anxious to get going, and she suspected that part of his eagerness was because of his concern about his parents, but it looked like the initial part of the trip was going to be slow going. Maybe tomorrow he would be able to make better time.
She glanced back at the little plane, sitting alone in the middle of the field. Well, if Superman's powers ever came back, he could retrieve it for its owner, too, she thought.
Clark started slowly onward again, heading in the general direction of the line of greenery, but downstream as well, and Lois trudged silently along beside him, keeping pace. The ground was rocky and uneven, and the walking wasn't easy. Burrs from the tall weeds clung to their clothing, and insects of all kinds buzzed around them, including clouds of tiny gnats of some sort that Lois could have sworn were following them. The sun hadn't reached zenith yet, shining down from a brilliantly clear sky. She glanced at her watch, noting that it was just before two in the afternoon, Metropolis time. It was already growing warmer than was strictly comfortable, although the breeze that ruffled the tall grasses of the field had a chilly edge to it. In the distance, pale against the sky, she could see mountain peaks capped with a layer of white, and not a single sign of civilization anywhere, not even the smoke from a chimney or a jet contrail high in that entire cloudless arch of blue. As far as she could tell there was nothing but a howling wilderness ahead of them. It was going to be a very long walk.
**********
And now, Part 6:
"Clark, sit down. Remember what I said. You're not going to try to be Superman right now." She glared at him. "Sit!"
Clark laughed breathlessly, but obeyed. "You sound just like my dad used to when he ordered Wilbur around."
"Wilbur?" Lois asked.
"My dog, when I was a kid," Clark explained, adjusting his position on the fallen log. "He was a little black and white mutt, but he was my best buddy after my powers started coming in."
Lois settled beside him on the log. Clark looked more animated than he had earlier. His face was flushed from the heat and exercise and a light sunburn reddened his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, but the tired look had almost vanished. Whatever had caused that awful fever was apparently going away.
He wiped sweat from his upper lip. "I was hoping that we'd get farther today," he said. The smile had dimmed slightly as he looked back the way they had come. They might have made as much as five miles in almost as many hours, Lois thought, with frequent stops at her insistence for Clark to rest.
"We'll do better tomorrow," she said. "It's better to go slowly than for you to have a relapse. What would I do if you did? I can't possibly carry you."
"I really think the worst is over," he said. "I feel pretty much okay, really. Just no super powers."
"And that's probably because I wouldn't let you do something stupid," she said, unwilling to give an inch. "What is it with guys anyway? They either act like they're dying over a hangnail, or they can get their foot cut off and they try to act like there's nothing wrong! My dad was the first sort, and you're the second. I don't know which is worse!"
He grinned, refusing to meet her eyes. "Sorry. It just seems wrong to let something like a little personal inconvenience stop me from doing what I should be doing."
"A little personal inconvenience!" Lois said, unable to keep the incredulity out of her voice. "Clark, you could have died!"
"Well, I could say the same thing about you when you go after a story," he pointed out mildly. "Do you have any idea how many times you've nearly given Superman heart failure since we met?"
She shook her head. "But that's my job," she said.
"Being Superman is my job too," he said. "Or was. One of them. Old habits don't just disappear overnight."
"You'll be Superman again," Lois said. Somehow she was a lot surer of that than he seemed to be. "I guess I get your point, though."
"I hope so. I can't come charging to the rescue anymore like I used to. We're going to have to get out of this thing without super powers, and deal with whoever tried to kill us the same way."
"Well, I used to handle bad guys before Superman came to Metropolis," Lois said. "Remind me to tell you about the time a guy who was running a forced prostitution ring in Old Town had me thrown into the Hobs River, tied hand and foot. I got out of that and put him away for the better part of the rest of his life. I can do it again, especially now that I have you to depend on -- and you have me. Together we're stronger than either of us is alone, Clark -- super powers or not."
"Let's just try not to get thrown into the Hobs River," Clark said, but the smile that had disappeared earlier was back. "All right, it’s a deal. We're partners and we'll find out who's behind this and put him away too, whether Superman ever comes back or not."
"That's more like it," Lois said. She swung the bag to her lap and opened it. "One thing, though."
"What?"
"I brought sunscreen because I figured I'd be out in the open a lot while we were in Kansas," she said, extracting the tube from the bottom of the case. "I put it on this morning, but you didn't. You need to put some on. You're getting burned."
"I am?" He felt the skin of his face. "It's sensitive. I never thought about getting sunburned."
"I guess you never had to worry about it before," Lois said, matter-of-factly. "Hold still. I'm going to put this on you, since I can see your face and you can't."
"Okay." He removed his glasses and held perfectly still while she applied cream to the exposed skin of his face and neck.
"There." She stood back, surveying the results of her handiwork. "That should help. It's a good thing you don't have a bald spot like my dad or you'd have a sunburned scalp."
"Well, if it works for Kryptonians like it works for humans, I shouldn't have to worry," he said. "The hologram of my father had a full head of hair."
"What are you talking about?" she asked. "What hologram?"
"Oh." He looked disconcerted for a moment. "Do you remember that globe that Jack stole from my apartment?"
"Uh huh." She was instantly all ears. "What about it?"
"It was my ship's navigation system. My father -- my Kryptonian father, I mean -- included a message for me in it."
She had been so occupied by everything that was going on that she hadn't followed up on the questions that she had about him. "You never did tell me the whole story."
He smiled. "Well, we've got a long way to go. I guess it should help keep us from getting bored. Are you ready?"
"Sure." She got to her feet. "We're going to want to stop somewhere before the sun goes down. I want to be able to start a fire to help keep us warm tonight."
"Blackberries for dinner tonight, I guess," Clark said.
"Looks like it." She glanced sideways at the stream that they had continued to follow for the last five miles. The open fields that they had traversed for most of the distance were slowly giving way to more forested land. The trees, largely pines, were still somewhat scattered but their growth had progressively thickened, and ahead she could see that they grew even more densely until they became a genuine evergreen forest that must go on for miles and miles. She couldn't help giving a little sigh of discouragement.
"I used to like walking in the forest," Clark said.
"Oh yeah? Where?"
"Just about anywhere," he said. "I've been hiking in Canada, and South America ... the Midwest ... even China. The difference, of course, is that back then, when I got tired of it, I could always fly home. This time we're going to have to do it the hard way."
"I guess now you get to see how the other half lives," she said, with forced lightness. "We'll make it, Clark. It's just going to take some time."
"Sure." He straightened his shoulders. "Are you ready?"
For answer, she picked up the overnight case and started forward. Clark fell in beside her.
"So," she said. "You were going to tell me the story of your life. I guess you might as well start."
"Okay," he said. "I guess if you want the whole story I'd better begin at the beginning."
"Sounds reasonable."
"I suppose I should say 'Once upon a time'," he observed, "but actually, it was probably around the end of February of 1966 by Earth's calendar that Mom and Dad figure that I was born. They based their guess on the fact that when they found me I was around eleven or twelve weeks old. They were driving along past Shuster's Field about dusk on May 17th when they saw what they thought was a meteor in the sky. It came streaking low overhead and crashed among the trees in Shuster's Field. Of course my Mom, being who she is, had to go see what had happened, so they jumped out of the pickup and ran across the field, not knowing what they were going to find."
"And what was it?" Lois asked, already sure that she knew.
"Well, it wasn't a meteor," Clark said. "It was a tiny ship with one passenger. Me. They took me home. A few days later, Dad got hold of his cousin, George Kent, who was a doctor in town, and told him some kind of story about me being the illegitimate son of one of Mom's distant cousins. He filled out the paperwork, they got me a birth certificate, and I became Clark Kent. They had no idea where I had come from, but it was at the height of the Cold War, and they kind of thought that I was some kind of Russian experiment or something. It wasn't until you and I found Bureau 39's warehouse that I learned the real story. My ship was there, and that's where I found the globe ..."
**********
The real story was more fantastic than Lois could have imagined. A dying world; parents determined to save their child's life, no matter how astronomical the odds; an almost unbelievable journey across millions of miles of space for a tiny ship that had been deliberately intended to land in Kansas, and a boy growing up with no idea where he had come from, except that he was developing amazing abilities that no human being should have.
And, although he didn't say so, a very lonely young man who traveled the world after college, searching for something that was missing in his life, never able to stay in one place for very long because his need to help others inevitably raised suspicions and forced him to move on.
And then, his arrival in Metropolis and his meeting with her: his sudden knowledge that he had found what he was looking for when she had burst into Perry White's office during his interview, and his determination to stay, no matter what it took. And later, the offhand suggestion that she had made about bringing a change of clothing to work, which had led to the creation of Superman.
When Clark had finished speaking they walked slowly along for some time in complete silence.
"Wow," Lois said finally. "That's some story."
"Yeah," he agreed.
"And you've known since we met that it was me that you wanted?"
"Yep."
"Wow," she said again. "I wish I'd known, but I guess I see why you didn't tell me. I wouldn't give you the time of day, and then I kind of went nuts for a while after Superman appeared." She cast a quick glance at him, walking along beside her. "I'm sorry, Clark."
"No, if anyone's sorry, I am," he said. "I didn't think about what an impact Superman's appearance would have. I suppose I should have expected it, but it just didn't occur to me."
She snorted. "That's my Clark. You're incredible, do you know that?"
"Well, I guess I was. I'm pretty ordinary now."
She stopped in her tracks, grabbed his arm and swung him around to face her. "Clark Kent, you're an idiot!" she said, glaring at him. "You don't have any idea, do you?"
"About what?"
"About just what an amazing person you are, and I'm not talking about the powers!"
He blinked. "I'm not anything unusual, Lois. Clark is who I am; just a guy from a Kansas farm who had some unusual gifts and an ability to write well."
She gave an exasperated sigh. "You're wrong, you know. Clark Kent is an incredible person. Stop and think about it for just one minute. You had all these tremendous powers and you used them to help. You didn't use them to get rich, or gain political power, or anything else! Just think for one moment what Lex would have done if he'd had your abilities!"
She saw his face change.
"Exactly!" she said, although he hadn't spoken. "Superman was who he was because of you! You *made* him Superman, not Super Business Magnate, or Super Crime Boss, or Super Dictator, or even Super-Massively-wealthy Playboy-with-women-swarming-all-over-him! Super *Man*. *That's* why you're so amazing, Clark, and that's why you'll always be amazing, whether or not your powers ever come back. It's just what you are, and will always be. Now do you understand?"
**********
The sun was sinking toward the horizon when Lois called a halt. The air was already becoming chilly, and she wanted to stop and make a fire before the sunlight was gone and her magnifying glass became useless for the purpose.
Clark hadn't said much after their conversation, but she suspected that he was thinking a great deal. She had caught him watching her occasionally when he probably thought she wouldn't notice. She hoped that was a good thing, but his expression wasn't one that she could read.
"Here's a good place," she said, surveying her selection critically. The area she had chosen was a small depression in the ground, sheltered on two sides by outcrops of rock and a clump of pine trees that gave them partial protection from the evening breeze.
Clark stopped obediently. "Looks good," he agreed. "We're not likely to find anything better."
She nodded, dropping the bag with relief. It hadn't been heavy when they started this walk, but it had progressively gained pounds as they proceeded. "Let's get some fuel for a fire," she directed. "I'll need some kindling -- dead twigs and dry leaves, and some bigger pieces of wood to add to it once we get the fire started."
Clark nodded. "Right away, boss."
She glanced sharply at him, but he was smiling at her in a way that told her he was joking. Together, they set about gathering the needed materials and a few moments later she was focusing a tiny beam of light from her magnifying glass onto the little pile of dry leaves, pine needles and twigs that Clark set in front of her. In a gratifyingly short period of time, the tinder was sending up a thin stream of smoke.
"You're pretty good at this," he said, as she blew gently on the smoking tinder and fed more dry leaves and shredded bark into her baby campfire.
"I was a Girl Scout," she explained. "I got a merit badge for this. Didn't you ever go camping?"
"Yeah, but Dad always brought along matches and lighter fluid," Clark said. "And after I was ten, we didn't even need that."
"Oh yeah ... heat vision. Start feeding in the bigger twigs now," she added. "I think we've got it."
It took a little more work, but eventually the fire was blazing satisfactorily. Clark insisted that she stay by their fire while he hunted around for dry branches to feed the flames during the night, and she let him. He was definitely looking better, she thought. It looked as if the worst was over.
The air had a distinct bite in it by the time Clark had amassed what he considered to be a sufficient supply of branches, and settled down beside her to enjoy a dinner of blackberries. A little ways off, she could hear the gurgle and babble of the stream, and the sound of some sort of creature peeping and chirping as darkness began to creep over them. With no sources of light beyond the gibbous moon riding low above the mountain tops, the night was coming amazingly fast, but with the rocks to their backs and the campfire blazing between them and the blackness beyond, the night was peaceful rather than frightening.
"I hope we can find something to eat besides blackberries before long," she said. "Do you have any idea if there's anything else to eat around this area?"
"Well, since I'm not sure what area we're in, that's hard to say," Clark said. "We're probably in the Rockies, but what part ..." He shrugged. "I guess I'll probably recognize some edible plants if I see them. And there's always roots ... and snails."
Lois shuddered. "I guess if we get hungry enough we could eat them," she said, "but I'd rather not if I don't have to. Maybe the stream has bigger fish than we've seen." She turned to open the bag she had been lugging along since they had started. "It's getting cold. I think we'd better put on our extra stuff, and then we can eat."
Two layers of jeans, three shirts, a sweater, and two layers of socks seemed to make a difference, but Lois suspected that it was still going to be an uncomfortable night. She admired the effect of the tight jeans on Clark, but didn't comment. Despite the fact that he had flown around in a skin-tight outfit as Superman, her partner was surprisingly bashful about certain things.
They ate the blackberries in silence and occasionally threw another branch on the fire. Lois found herself yawning after the unaccustomed exercise, and once saw Clark nearly dislocate his jaw.
"I think we'd better go to sleep," she said, finally. "We've got a long walk tomorrow."
"Okay." He moved closer to the fire and began to pile branches over it, and ashes and dirt around it. "Let's see if I can bank this thing as well as my dad used to," he added. "If we can keep it going on low overnight, we'll be a bit more comfortable."
She grinned at his description. "I'm all for that. I have the feeling it's going to get pretty chilly tonight."
"Um ... yeah." He finished his work on the fire and returned to his spot. "Uh ..." He hesitated, and then seemed to gather his courage. "If we huddle together, I think we'll be more comfortable," he said, and she was surprised to see his cheeks burning dark red in the firelight. "I promise, no funny stuff, but ..."
Since the same thought had occurred to her, it was a relief to hear him voice it. "You're right," she said, trying for a matter-of-fact tone. "I think we should."
"You do?"
"Don't look so surprised," she said, unable to keep from grinning slightly. "I don't want to freeze tonight, and I can think of some other people that I'd rather freeze solid than cuddle up to. Pete, for instance. You're not exactly repulsive, you know. In fact ..." She let her gaze travel from the top of his head to his toes and back again, "you're pretty darned acceptable."
He gave a sheepish grin. "You think so?"
"I know so." She held out her hands and he gratified her by scooting quickly over next to her. She curled up against him and he slipped his arms around her.
"How's this?"
"Nice." His shoulder made a very good pillow. She could feel the warmth of his body dispelling the chill of the night air. "You're very comfortable."
"So are you." He adjusted his position until she was cradled in the curve of his body. She could feel his breath against her hair. "Let me know if you get cold."
"Okay." She yawned. "Thanks, Clark."
"What for?"
"For being you. For rescuing me. For wanting me even when I acted like such a fool."
"We're not going to think about that anymore," he said softly. "You're here with me now, even if 'here' is out in the middle of nowhere."
They were silent for several minutes. The night noises were surprisingly soothing.
"I never slept with Lex, you know," she said suddenly. "I never wanted to. That should probably have warned me that something was wrong."
She felt him kiss her hair. "You didn't need to tell me, Lois."
"Yes, I did," she said. "You deserved to know. At least that was one mistake I didn't make."
He kissed her hair again. "Shh," he said, quietly. "It wouldn't have mattered. You're mine now, if you'll have me."
"Do you still want me?" she whispered.
"More than anything."
"I love you, Clark."
"I love you too," he said. "I have from the beginning, and I always will."
**********
tbc
