Anna posted
this challenge in April for people to write an alternate STGTTWNK in episode format that leaves open the possibility of Soulmates to happen. Since this story doesn't follow the challenge exactly (no A-plot), I'm posting it here rather than in the challenge folder. Since the story is finished, I'll post every other day.
Happy (early) Birthday, Anna!!! I hope you enjoy this story even though it doesn't follow the challange exactly
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TOC Swear to God, This Time We're Eloping (1/4)
by Alicia U.
It was a dark and stormy day. Clouds precluded the vision of all of Metropolis's buildings creating a dark, eerie atmosphere over the whole city. The pounding rain and swirling wind added to the overall feeling that the city was caught in a monsoon. Large raindrops slammed into the 'Daily Planet's' windows, sounding like miniature claps of thunder. On such a dreary day, nearly everyone in the newsroom couldn't help but feel a bit of malaise and apathy making it difficult to get any work done. Today even Lois Lane found that her mood matched the color of the clouds.
She had much more on her mind than her current line-up of stories. Nothing was working. Every investigation was hitting dead ends at the same time, and none of her sources were coming through, even Bobby Bigmouth. After six hours of the frustration at accomplishing nothing, Lois had given up for the day. Instead of doing anything productive, she found herself sitting at her desk, staring aimlessly out the window, watching the steady rain fall onto the city. Her mind wandered as she watched the water meander down the windows.
What a week it had been. No, she was wrong; it hadn't been just a tough week. The entire year had seemed almost like a figment of her imagination. So much had happened. She just wanted to forget it all and start over. If there were any way she could go back in time and relive any year of her life, 1996 would be that year. If only she could go back to January 1, 1996, she would try to change all of the events that had happened that had caused her so much pain.
She glanced down at the beautiful engagement ring that Clark had given her almost a year ago that rested on her left ring finger. That ring felt so familiar on her hand; it was almost like it had been there forever. It just felt right. Not so long ago, he had slid it on her finger for the first time, but in her mind it felt like the ring had been there for an eternity. As she touched the ring and twirled it around her finger as she often did, she realized that her finger felt strangely empty. There was supposed to be another ring on that finger. She should be wearing a wedding ring.
The major event that she would go back and change was her failed wedding day: February 11, 1996. Thinking of what should have been the happiest day of her life made her stomach hurt. In fact, she hardly remembered that day at all. But she knew how horrible it had been from the stories that Clark had told her. Almost the worst thing about everything that had happened was that she didn't remember. It was almost more painful than actually remembering the day in vivid detail. She felt like an entire chunk of her life was missing. Even though she knew everything that had happened and how Clark had felt as those things were occurring, she knew nothing of how she had felt, reacted, or even what she had gone through exactly. It was an absolutely painful thing for her to try to remember because that portion of her life was completely absent from her memory. She would never be able to know for sure exactly what she had gone through. And that hurt her more than anything else.
Even though she had a very scant recollection of the details, one thing was certain. Lois Lane and Clark Kent should have been married that day. Yes, right now, the 'Planet's' top reporting duo should still be reveling in their first blissful months as newlyweds. But it hadn't happened that way at all.
She didn't want to think about what the events of their non-wedding day and the following weeks. The memories were still too painful for her to confront. Alas, it seemed like a life of peaceful wedded bliss was not to be for Lois and Clark. They had certainly been through a lot since what was supposed to be their wedding day. Lex Luthor, clones, amnesia, high school classmates with shrinking potions, and New Kryptonians had all kept Lois Lane and Clark Kent from the happiness they deserved to experience as husband and wife. Each of those things alone might have been enough to drive any other couple apart, but not Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Their love transcended those horrible things and they had survived. In fact, they were still madly in love with each other and, above all else, desperately wanted to be married.
As hard as they both tried to live a normal life, they never succeeded. There was always a new challenge in their way. They had almost lost each other many times. Yet their love was stronger than ever. Their love had survived so many trials and Lois and Clark had grown even closer in the aftermath of each one.
Why did it always seem like fate was working against the couple? If she could just go back and relive the last year of her life, she would have been more careful, more observant. She should have realized that everything about the wedding was going to hell in a hand-basket the second she relinquished control and let her mother do the planning. That should have been a warning that something was bound to go wrong. She should have never turned over control to her mother of all people even though she hadn't really been given a choice in the matter. Her mother had just barreled into the situation and completely taken over everything involved with the wedding planning. With Ellen's involvement, the small, intimate ceremony had turned into the social event of the year.
Okay, her mother wasn't exactly responsible for everything that had happened on her wedding day. How could anyone have known that Lex Luthor would show up at the wedding with a Lois clone? Who knew that human cloning was even possible? But why had she gone alone with him to sign the marriage license? Any number of people could have gone with her: Clark, her mother, her father, Martha, Jonathan, Perry, or Jimmy. The list was endless. There were just so many things that if she had done slightly differently, could have changed her life drastically. She almost wondered what would have happened if she and Clark had been married when Ching and Zara came to Earth to ask Clark to help them save New Krypton. Maybe he would have decided not to go...
She shook her head with determination. No, it wasn't good for her to focus on the past. The only thing that mattered now was that she and Clark had survived all the trials that life had thrown at them. Their relationship was so much deeper because of their experience; she knew that they couldn't waste their time wallowing in their flawed pasts. A lifetime lay ahead of them and she was determined to make the most of it.
Suddenly she reached a conclusion: they didn't have to let the universe make choices for them. Yes, they could change their luck today, right now.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize Clark had come up behind her and was now sitting on the corner of her desk waiting for her to notice him. Since she had been so focused on the vivid images of the past, she hadn't been paying attention to anything going on around her. She hadn't noticed him until he put his hand on her shoulder.
"Lois, Earth to Lois," he said as he waved a hand in front of her face.
Lois looked up and smiled at her fiancé. It was as if Clark always knew exactly when she was thinking about him, and he tended to show up exactly when she wanted to talk to him. Now was just one of those times. Maybe they had some sort of telepathic connection that drew him to her whenever she needed him.
"You looked like you were a million miles away," he joked.
Yes, she probably had been a million miles away, as he had said. The funny thing was that Clark probably was the only person in the newsroom that wasn't affected by the gloomy day. He was as chipper and cheerful as ever. It was just so typical of him. Even a gloomy day like today couldn't affect his thirst for life. He was the sweetest, nicest man in the world and those attributes showed through wherever he went and tended to brighten up even the most depressing situations.
Superman had been busy all morning, so this was the first time the couple had seen each other since last night. She assumed that everything had gone well for him, though, because he seemed so upbeat. Good, maybe his mood would rub off on her.
"Honey, are you okay?"
Lois silenced him by reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to give him a long, tender, needy kiss. She hadn't seen him since the night before, and had been suffering from a bit of Clark withdrawal syndrome. Now she was getting her much-needed fix.
It didn't matter to her that they were in the middle of a crowded busy newsroom at 4 pm. Besides, Perry was away at a budget meeting, so there really wasn't anyone there that would say anything to the couple. Did it ever really matter that they were in the middle of a crowded newsroom in the middle of the day? Was she really worried that Perry would say something? Of course not. She would have kissed Clark anyway even if she had an audience of her boss and 100 people in the newsroom.
"Mmm…" she sighed, happy to feel his lips against hers again.
When the kiss broke, Clark hadn't forgotten about what he had wanted to ask Lois. He pulled away far enough to be able to whisper, not wanting to break the mood, "Hey, what were you thinking about?"
"Oh, nothing," she said dismissively.
Wait. Why had she said that? Just two seconds ago, she had been all set to tell him about her master plan, but now she was blatantly lying. Was she afraid of telling him, scared of his reaction? Did she really think he was going to reject her? He was just as desperate to be married as she was. There was no way he would be able to say no.
Clark raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Really? I know that look, Lois."
He knew that she was lying, but he wasn't sure what she could be lying about. Was it about a story? Probably not, especially since she didn't have anything open on her computer or any files scattered on her desk. So it must have been something personal. Why wasn't she telling him? If it were something personal, he would bet a lot of money that it involved him in some way. He was always involved. Was she mad at him? No. She couldn't be upset. If she was, she definitely wouldn't have kissed him like that. But the look in her eyes before definitely let him know that something was wrong.
Lois rolled her eyes. Sometimes he knew her too well, almost better than she knew herself. She couldn't hide anything from him. It wasn't like she even wanted to keep him in the dark about this at all. But she didn't want to talk about this in the middle of the newsroom. So she tugged at his arm, and pulled him into the conference room, before she said anything else.
After she closed all the blinds, she grinned at him wickedly and wrapped both of her arms around his shoulders again. This was something that she couldn't just spring on him. Wait, yes it was. It would probably go over better if she just blurted it out, rather than trying to beat around the bush.
So she blurted out, "Let's get married today, Clark."
"What?" he sputtered. She had caught him completely off guard.
Of all the things she could have asked him, this was definitely among the more unexpected. It was probably the most unexpected, actually. He wasn't sure exactly what he had been expecting her to say, but that was definitely not it. Get married today? Was she serious? There was nothing more he wanted in the world than to make Lois Lane his wife. But did she really mean what she was saying?
It didn't look like she was joking. Sure, she had joked about eloping many times before, but she had never looked so intent, so serious before. How would he answer her? Wow. He was definitely surprised. And that was an understatement!
All he was able to give her was a completely unintelligible answer. "Um, uh, um, wa…"
Lois rolled her eyes at Clark. Obviously he hadn't really understood what she was saying and she had caught him off guard. She decided to reiterate, "You heard me, Clark. I want to get married today."
He found his tongue and wondered aloud, "Are you serious?" His heart was beating hard in his chest. Could she be serious? What if she was? What if she wasn't?
Lois rolled her eyes and said, "Of course I'm serious, Clark. I want to get married. Today. I can't take the torture of not being your wife for another day." She looked at him with what she hoped was a pleading expression. She knew that he felt the same way she did. Their engagement had become absolute torture for both of them.
"Today? Do you mean that after we leave work today we just go get married?" he wondered incredulously. She couldn't be serious, could she? It just seemed too absurd to be true.
"Yes." Lois shrugged her shoulders as if she had just said the sanest thing in the world. She knew there was nothing strange at all about her request. "We could even leave right now."
Did he really doubt her sincerity? How often had she not been serious in the entire time they'd known each other? The only thing she wanted in the world, at this moment, was to finally marry the love of her life.
"You want to get married today?" he repeated obviously still stunned by her request.
"Clark, don't you want to get married today?" She stuck her lower lip out in a pout.
Now she had turned the tables on him.
He stumbled over his words, "Well, of course I want to get married as soon as possible. But today? How are we ever going to get everyone to Metropolis, get the license…"
Lois tried to silence him by planting another kiss on his lips. Obviously he didn't yet understand what she was saying. She wanted to get married today; obviously that implied eloping. It was the only way she could see doing it.
When the kiss broke, Clark continued, "How are you planning we do that? It's already 4:00."
Oh, Clark, always thinking of logistics. Lois knew that he was probably assuming that she hadn't planned this as well as she actually had. He should know her better than that. As soon as Lois Lane got an idea into her head, she always made sure to work out all the angles. She had planned every minute detail.
"It's only 1:00 in Las Vegas," she said in a completely matter-of-fact tone.
"Las Vegas?"
Okay, so she was definitely talking about eloping.
"You know, you can fly us anywhere in the world. We could get married in Vegas, or Monte Carlo, or Paris…" She grinned at his surprised look. "And we could do it today, right now."
"Eloping?" he said.
He just needed her to confirm his suspicions. Of course he wasn't opposed to eloping. There had been so much in their relationship that seemed to keep them apart. Published wedding days were not in their favor. If they just ran off and sealed the deal, no one would be able to reverse it. What an interesting idea. Lois's mind definitely worked in mysteriously brilliant ways.
But he needed to be sure that she was completely serious about this. He didn't want her to do anything that she didn't want. Maybe she really did have her heart set on the big, fancy wedding that she had missed out on completely all those long months ago. Although Clois certainly had experienced the whole wedding... No, he refused to think about that day, and the following heart-breaking weeks!
"Yes, Clark," she said as she put her hand on his chest. "Eloping. It's perfect." He was starting to bend; she could feel it.
"Eloping. In Las Vegas." He let the idea swirl around his head for a minute. Yes, it seemed absolutely perfect. At this point, after all they'd been through, the wedding was only a formality. In each other's hearts they definitely were husband and wife. An official wedding was just making legal a union that they had both known for a long time.
He continued, "Are you sure you want to elope, Lois? What about a big wedding? I'll give you anything you want. You know I want to get married right away, but if you want a fancy wedding…"
"Clark, I would not tell you I want to elope if I didn't really want to! The only person that wanted a big, fancy wedding is not here to debate with us. My mother was the one that wanted the doves and the Swiss bell ringers. I just want you."
And she was right. It was Ellen who wanted the fancy wedding. Lois had always just wanted to marry Clark anyway possible. She just wanted to be with him for the rest of her life.
He smiled and cupped her face with his hand. Then he said, "And I want you."
She answered, "Clark, you know as well as I do that we are already married in heart and mind, but I just want everyone else to know it, too."
He whispered with his face only inches from hers, "In our hearts and minds we are husband and wife." Then he brushed his lips against hers for a soft kiss.
Lois pushed him away slightly so she could speak, "So let's make it completely official -- formal in the eyes of the law. Clark, I don't want to spend another day as your fiancé. I want to be your wife. Your real, legally married wife."
"And I want to be your husband." Clark didn't even need to think about that answer. It was completely automatic.
"Clark, I want to live with you, to see your face every morning when I wake up, and to have you be the last thing I see and feel before I go to bed." She paused and took a deep breath. Then she whispered, "I want to make love to you." A little louder she declared, "I love you, Clark; I want to marry you. Today. Let's not wait a second longer."
"I want those things, too," he breathed.
But he was still confused. Did she really want this more than she wanted a fancy ceremony? Even though she claimed not to want the large wedding of her mother's dreams, a nagging part of him wondered if a tiny part of her also wanted a big, fancy wedding. He didn't want to make her do anything she didn't really want to do or would regret at any time in the future. Okay, she sounded like she really did want it. And the only thing he ever wanted to do was to make her happy. In his mind, at this moment, he felt that he was put on this Earth to satisfy Lois Lane's every whim and desire.
Clark was confused, and Lois knew it. His high moral standards were coming back to haunt him. Even though she was the one seducing him, tempting him, he probably thought that she was confused and that he was the one trying to convince her. He still obviously felt bad that their first wedding attempt had gone so badly.
She pleaded, "Come on, Clark, let's just do it. We've already tried to have a fancy wedding."
"I know. But…"
"But what, Clark? I do *not* want to try to have another fancy wedding! My mom was an absolute terror. She took over our wedding completely that it almost wasn't even ours any more. You do not want Beverly the horrible wedding planner again, do you?"
"Well, no, of course not."
Clark nodded his agreement. Of course no one wanted to relive that horrible time. It had been an absolute nightmare! And that was even before Lex Luthor had shown up!
"And since the wedding was so public, anyone that hated us could try to ruin it. It was just coincidental that it was Lex Luthor last time. It could be anyone this time. Do you want to expose ourselves to that horror again?"
She was right again. The more publicized their wedding was, the greater the chance for something to go wrong. Plus, the publicity was bound to lead to someone that hated them trying to ruin the wedding. Wasn't that how it always seemed to happen?
"But…"
"Clark, let's just elope. It makes perfect sense. I want you; you want me. We are absolutely meant to be together as husband and wife. We've already tried the big wedding approach and you see where that got us."
This was his last ditch effort. If she didn't cave now he would agree that she was serious. She was making so many good points. And she was trapping him with a tactic that she often used to convince him. She always made so many good points that he just couldn't argue with. So it was very likely that she was completely serious.
"I don't know, Lois. Eloping? For some reason it just doesn't seem -- I don't know -- right."
Lois was ready to scream. Obviously he wanted to elope just as much as she did! What was he beating around the bush for? Was he trying to make her completely crazy?
"Clark, being replaced by a *clone* on my *wedding day* wasn't *right*. This is *necessary*! Plus, if no one knows we are getting married today, we have the element of surprise on our side. If we do it on a whim, no one will know and no one that hates us will be able to disrupt our happiness -- at least for today. Plus, there's the extra incentive of not doing it in Metropolis. Everyone that wants to kill us lives in the city, so if we get out…"
"I know, Lois," he interrupted. "You're right. There's nothing in the world I want more than to marry you today, right now."
"Then let's do it. What's holding us back?"
"I don't know," he said honestly. Then he tried one more time. "You really don't want a fancy wedding?"
What on Earth did she have to say to convince him? Did she have to explicitly spell it out for him? She was practically begging as it stood right now!
"Clark! All I want is you. But I might be even happier if you were gift wrapped with a bow that I'd get to unwrap …"
"I could say the same for you," he joked. Then he became completely serious when he said, "Let's do it."
"You're agreeing?" She was shocked. After all that he'd finally agreed.
"Well, yeah. I want to get married today." He grinned at her surprised look. "You know, I just wanted to make sure you really wanted to."
Lois rolled her eyes at him. It was just as she had expected -- so typical! He put her interests ahead of his own way too often for his own good. And he hadn't even let her use the best thing she had come up with to convince him. "But you didn't let me use my best argument. Disagree with me again."
"What?" Clark shook his head in surprise. Lois was just full of strange ideas today. As long as he lived, he would never completely understand her. But he wouldn't have it any other way. The element of surprise kept their relationship fresh.
"You heard me." She smiled at him and said, "Please."
"You want me to disagree with you?" When she nodded, he decided to go along with whatever she had planned. If was actually wanted him to disagree again, he wasn't sure what she was planning to do, but he had a feeling that the argument she was intent on presenting would be worth it. "Okay, Lois, no, I don't want to elope with you today," he deadpanned.
"Thank you," she said quickly. Then she changed her demeanor back to fight mode when she said, "Now…" She moved her head right next to his ear and whispered something that made his cheeks turn a deep crimson. Then she said a bit louder, "If you liked that, you'll love the argument I'm saving for the bedroom tonight."
"Let's do it," he said quickly. He could only be a boy scout for so long. "You've convinced me." She'd done more than just convince him to elope with her today. In fact, she had just about convinced him to ravish her on the conference room table.
Lois's mouth turned up into a grin. They were really going to do it! She and Clark would be married by tonight. Who would have thought that a rainy day in Metropolis would lead to such an incredible idea?
"Oh my god, Clark, we're really going to do this!" She reached out and hugged him tightly, almost unable to contain her obvious enthusiasm.
"Lois, I can't believe we're doing this. We're not being too rash, right?" He could think of a whole list of reasons not to do this today. But that list just wasn't coming to him at the moment.
Oh no! He was *not* hedging again! "Clark! We are *not* being rash! It is the farthest thing from rash that there could possibly be! We have the rings..."
"We're really going to do this!" Clark exclaimed.
She was right! There was nothing in the world that he could think of to negate her reasoning. They had already tried the big, fancy wedding route -- and it had failed. Plus, they had thought of each other as husband and wife, without the formality, for way too long. Each of her arguments was completely indisputable on its own. So what was he arguing for?
Lois was beginning to get frustrated again. She wondered, "Clark, you don't want to have Lex Luthor and Nigel St. John as our witnesses, do you? Or what about Lord Nor and Zara? Or what about the wedding destroyer and a tabloid reporter from the 'National Whisper'? What else could make our day more complete? This is exactly why we have to elope!"
One more question out of him and she would have to whisper something else in his ear to get him to shut up. Then she would have to kiss him senseless so he even forgot his name and completely lost the power to fight with her.
"Lo-is."
She continued, "Do you want to wait to be married by some guardian angel that was sent down to marry us in some fantasy wonderland?"
"You really do have a good imagination," Clark said with a smile. He knew that she was just being silly, but half of him almost believed that she was completely serious. Everything that she said had the potential to happen to them. Well, maybe not the fantasy wonderland part.
"My imagination, huh! Clark, I'm not joking. Who showed up at our first wedding? Lex. And right before we were going to have our second wedding, your wife from Krypton showed up. We have to take matters into our own hands."
"Okay, okay, you've got a good point." He paused for a second and put his hands around her neck. "A lot of good points." Then he shook his head at the sheer volume of reasons Lois's mind had come up with to justify getting married today. And it wasn't like he was that hard to convince either. "Let's do it tonight. Do you want to wait until the end of the day or do you want to leave now?"
Lois nodded quickly. She raised her eyebrows and said, "Do you really want to spend another couple of hours here when we could be in Las Vegas getting married?" When Clark shook his head, Lois said, "I didn't think so. The sooner we do this the better. I've been ready for almost a year."
"I've been ready my whole life," Clark answered.
Lois felt a tear come to her eye. Sometimes he really was so dense -- like when he got so confused about the concept of eloping. But then there were other times when his words alone could cause her to absolutely melt. Sometimes Clark Kent said the most amazing things. It definitely made up for those lunkheaded moments, indeed. He definitely was a *super* man in so many ways.
"I love you, Clark," she breathed as she leaned forward into his waiting arms.
He whispered, "I love you, too, Lois. And I want to be your husband more than I have ever wanted anything in my life."
"Oh, Clark," she whispered as she felt tears at the corners of her eyes. Sometimes, she couldn't believe just how lucky she was.
Then she tilted her head up until her lips met his in a slow passionate kiss that expressed just how much they loved and wanted each other. They reveled in the feel of the other's lips, their tongues dancing to the tune of a magical song only they heard.
To Be Continued.
