Like BJ pointed out, the interaction between Lois and Clark in the kitchen was lovely.
A gentle kiss was pressed on her neck from behind and Clark's voice whispered in her ear.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked gently.
“Oh, nothing really. Just life in general.” Lois turned into his arms, wrapping her arms around him, careful to keep her dirty hands off his clean blue shirt. She loved him in blue, and not necessarily Superman's blue. Now that she thought of it, she loved him in any color, especially skin tones. She giggled again.
You write Lois's happiness so beautifully, and you show us so well how much that happiness has to do with Clark.
“No, first footing is a custom where all the neighbors visit each other's houses on New Year's Eve. The first person to come across your doorstep is supposed to be a tall, dark and handsome male, so I was always pushed in first.” Clark blushed in embarrassment. “I guess because I was the tallest and my hair is still semi-dark ... if you ignore the gray streaks.”
One of Lois' hands trailed playfully through his hair. “Oh, I don't know. I think the gray is distinguished and you still fit the third part of that description.”
“You're in love with me, honey.”
Yep, her dirty hand played with his hair, while she told him that he was handsome!
And Clark made the astute observation that Lois is in love with him, perhaps to imply that she isn't absolutely unbiased when it comes to assessing his physical beauty... but hey, Clark, having a wife who is in love with you and sees you as more handsome than you really are is not bad!
Clark smiled down on her, then his eyes gleamed teasingly again. “But don't interrupt. I'm not finished with my story. You bring a piece of coal with you and say 'lang may yer lum reek.”
Lois lifted a dish-cloth from the counter and swiped Clark. “Now you really are joking!”
Pretending to be hurt, Clark flinched, only he didn't have to pretend all that much these days, but he threw his head back and laughed. “No, Sweetheart. I swear this is true. That saying signifies that you want the householder to always have enough coal to keep their fire burning, so wishing them prosperity, I guess.
It's funny that she sweeps him with that dish-cloth. And Clark has to pretend that it hurts, but these days it's not necessary to pretend as much as he used to.
Oh, and that Scottish expression...occasionally Scottish sounds very Scandinavian to me. In Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, the word for "child" is "barn". In Sottish I think it is "bairn". Now that word "reek"... in American English and most forms of British English that means "smell bad", but in Swedish "ryka" means "make smoke". So I guess that Scottish expression has to mean, "long may your 'lum' - coal? fireplace? - make smoke'. Ah, interesting!
But when Lois tells him that she had to get better at cooking herself because she lost her personal chef a few years back, their mood turns sombre and Clark feels guilty. He has no reason to blame himself, yet he does.
“Didn't you ever look for someone to console you?” When he spoke his voice was stilted. They'd never talked about this, but perhaps the very domesticity of this scene gave him the courage to broach the subject. He lifted his head to study Lois' troubled eyes. “I'm not objecting, you know. In fact, I would understand completely. You thought I was gone forever.”
“No. Clark, I never ... but I'll have you know it wasn't through lack of offers, either.”
A tiny smile curled Clark's lips. “I don't doubt that,” he said, a touch wistfully. “Any man would be lucky to be with you.”
“I didn't want anyone else. You're kind of a hard act to follow.”
I love this, that they can talk about it so openly, and that they can trust each other so.
Lois's last line reminds me of what Margot Kidder's Lois told Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent right before he gave her that amnesia kiss to make her forget about their love story and his double identity. (When he did so, he also rejected their love story himself, and he broke my heart.)
Clark's shoulders lifted disparagingly. “But having a partner might have made your life easier ...”
“But I didn't want another partner.” Lois leaned closer to his body, if that was physically possible. “You're the only man I've ever wanted ... the only man I'll ever want!” She brushed her lips against his throat and felt his pulse quicken. “But what about you?” Her voice trembled. “Didn't you ever look?”
“I was looking ...”
Lois pushed out of Clark's embrace, taking a step backward, only to smack into the kitchen counter. “What?”
“I was looking for my dream woman.” Clark closed the gap and placed his fingers on Lois' cheek, stroking gently. “I just didn't know she was you, honey. Not until you walked into Marge's spare bedroom. My heart recognized you long before my head.”
“Oh ... you,” Lois gasped, then said nothing more as her lips were involved in a much nicer occupation than talking.
All of this is just lovely, and so intensely emotional.
“Oh boy! Can't you two be trusted to do a job right?” Another teasing voice asked from the doorway as a young man in a black suit and mask entered the room. “I've been out on a busy holiday patrol and I come back, looking forward to a good meal, and I find my parents making out in the kitchen.” Matt winked, before spinning back into his casual clothes.
“Hi, Son,” Clark replied. “You'll have to blame your mother for looking so cute with that stuffing smeared on her face. I couldn't resist ...”
“What?” Lois repeated, but she squirmed away from Clark and ran over to a small mirror on the back wall. She swiped at her face with the dish towel which was clutched forgotten in her hand. “Why didn't you tell me?” she demanded, giving Clark a reproving glance.
“I was getting around to removing it myself.”
I'm sorry I'm quoting almost all of this, but I loved the fact that Clark thought Lois looked cute with stuffing on her face! And he would tell his son that he couldn't stop himself from kissing her because of that! And Lois is not amused, except she is.
“You know, shouldn't that turkey be in the oven by now, if you want it to be ready for the gang coming for dinner. Unless you want me to ...” Matt waved in the general direction of his eyes.
“No way,” Lois assured him with much feeling. “Last time you tried that we ended up eating beef briquette.”
Ha ha!! Lang may yer beef reek!
“You did?” Clark asked in amusement, though he was also interested in the answer. “I thought you had control of your heat vision, Matt.”
“I have. Funny thing is though, Dad, I've inherited your superpowers, but I'm afraid I got Mom's cooking skills ... or lack of them.”
“Don't push your luck, Matt,” Lois said, throwing the towel at him. “I might send you to your room without dinner.”
“Nah, you wouldn't.” Matt's impish grin sparkled, lighting up his face. “Your bark is worse than your bite.”
Again, this is lovely. Reading it makes me feel all warm inside.
But Lois soon gets worried, when she is reminded of all the criminals who are out of prison and who might be looking for a way to get back at the man who brought them to justice in the first place - Superman. That is, Clark. Who isn't Superman any more, or at least, who isn't invulnerable any more.
I liked your portrait of Vicky very much.
But, oh no, there's another bomb!
I'm with Lois here. The bombs are somehow directed at Clark. He doesn't want to see it, or he doesn't want to believe it. He doesn't really believe in her intuition here, and she doesn't really believe in
him, in his instincts, and in his ability to defend himself against criminals with bombs, now that he isn't "super" any more. And her fears for him - which are equivalent to her doubts in him - annoys him, even though he also acknowledges that she has such faith in him.
Oh, it is so hard to love a person and to have to deal with the loss of much of his - or your own - physical ability at the same time.
This is very moving, Jennie.
Ann
I never saw that coming, I think.