The heated, arid climate engulfed her as soon as she stepped off the plane.
Lois made her way down the boarding stairs, sun piercing her eyes as it glinted brightly off the horizon.
Fumbling in her messenger bag for her sunglasses, she stumbled off the last stair and nearly pitched face-first onto the tarmac.
A sturdy arm steadied her at the elbow, and she looked up from her bag to see the easy smile of her partner.
“I’ve got you.”
“Thanks,” she said with a nod. As soon as she was standing on her own, Clark slid his arm away. She slipped on her shades, intentionally breaking their eye contact, and took in a deep breath of dry air, so hot that she could practically taste it. “This heat!”
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
The unadulterated joy in his voice made her take a closer look at the man beside her, his head tilted up, staring happily and directly into the mid-afternoon sun. Standing beside him, she marveled that he somehow looked
healthier after fifteen hours of travel. His skin all but glowed in this sun.
Her heart fluttered.
Until she forced her lingering gaze away from her partner and it traveled past him.
Beyond the runway, sand was piled in dancing dunes as far as she could see, creating a rolling golden landscape that shifted as she watched it, broken only by a horizon line made hazy by the intense heat.
“I have never seen this much sand in my life,” she said direly.
Clark turned to see what she was focused on behind him.
The sun even gave his hair a glossier look than usual as it ruffled slightly in the light breeze.
It ruffled her hair, too, which was already sticking to her face as sweat stippled her forehead.
And it also ruffled her
feathers, as she realized this lackluster breeze was probably the most relief she was bound to get from this heat until they were on their way back to Metropolis.
Meanwhile, Clark turned back to her, flashing her another thousand megawatt grin, at least as bright as the sun overhead. “Welcome to Egypt, Lois.”
She rolled her eyes at him and turned toward the airport’s main building. “Let’s just get our luggage and get out of here. Hopefully the hotel has air conditioning.”
