I do apologize muchly for the delay. I put in an application to work online for a company answering texted questions. Got a reply yesterday saying my answers were good [whew!] but that my application form was incomplete. Thought it was just missing a couple addresses but twas more than that and had to write 3 'essays' including one that was difficult for me [about a place I'd never been].
*Then*, I put DD7 on the bus this morning and laid back down for a bit only to be jolted awake by the tornado sirens going off. If you saw the nasty storms across the Midwest this morning, the first reported tornado [that I know of] was about 2 miles from me :p . Internet was spotty for hours and the winds after the sirens stopped were actually worse for a while. Then an extra 5yo while her mom helped one of their friends' whose house did get hit [not too bad]. No deaths that I've heard of - 4 kids at a high school that lost part of a roof/wall.
Anyway... Here tis
.
Thanks, as always, to Nancy, Beth, Alisha, Pam and Cat!
Last time:
"Ready for that interview?" she asked as she LANned the files to Perry.
He sighed. "No, but let's go do this anyway."
She gathered her things and followed him to the stairwell and then the roof, wondering what he was doing.
When they reached the roof, he looked around then started to spin, stopping when he was wearing his new costume.
"Ready?" he asked.
She found that she couldn’t speak and just nodded instead.
He scooped her into his arms and took off into the air.
Chapter 11Clark flew south with Lois in his arms. She clung tightly to him as they flew.
"Where are we going?"
"Just a minute."
True to his word, he set her down a minute later.
"It's a little island in the Caribbean," he said.
She leaned against him, one arm holding her up as she took her shoes and socks off. "And you couldn't have stopped at the apartment so I could get a swimsuit?"
He moved away from her as she let go. "I don't think that's a good idea," he muttered.
She unbuttoned her jacket and tossed it onto the sand. "What?"
"Nothing," he sighed as he hovered far enough above the sand to spin into regular clothes.
"No, you said it wasn't a good idea. What does that mean?"
He sighed again as he walked down the beach. "It means that I'd have a hard time controlling myself around if you were wearing a swimsuit, especially the kind I'm envisioning in my head."
"What's that mean? You'd have a hard time controlling yourself."
He stifled a scream. "It means that I was waiting to find the right woman to make love with and I didn't know you well enough to know if you were that right woman or not but, so help me, I think I could spend the rest of my life doing nothing but making love to you and be just fine."
"What?" she whispered.
"You heard me." His voice was soft.
"I'm sorry," she said suddenly.
He turned to look at her. "What?"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I suggested we get married. I'm sorry..." her voice trailed off.
"Do you think I blame you?" he asked incredulously.
She shrugged as she sat on her jacket. "I have no idea. I barely *know* you."
He looked over the water. "And I barely know you. But I do know that sleeping in the same bed as you and doing nothing but sleep is a challenge."
"Why?" she asked softly. "Why is it a challenge? I'm nothing special."
Clark practically gaped at her before moving to sit at her side. "That's *not* true! You're brilliant and witty and beautiful and fun and sexy. And I know I have no real frame of reference, but it's pretty amazing when we're together. At least, it is for me and I hope it is for you."
She nodded as a tear slipped down her cheek. He reached out and brushed it away.
"I'd like to get to know you," he told her, taking her hand in his, gently brushing his thumb over the back. "I was having a great time with you that day and hoping that I could get to know you better but not really thinking it would happen – at least not at this point in my life; more of a maybe someday kind of thing. I know you're still planning on calling a lawyer and I won't fight you on anything. I'll do whatever I can to help you with expenses and all of that. I *want* to be a dad to this baby. But even with lawyers and everything, I'd like to get to know you, to at least be your friend because we're tied together for life because of this baby and I really don't want to have an antagonistic relationship with you."
"I don't want to have an antagonistic relationship with you either."
There was a long silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
Clark sighed and moved away from her slightly. "So how do you want to do this?"
She looked up at him to see him staring out over the water. "Do what?"
"This interview."
She sighed. "However you want. Tell me what you want published and we'll go from there? Not how I'd normally conduct an interview but I'm not about print everything."
"Thank you."
Lois shrugged. "It's not just because of you. I have a lot to lose, too."
"I know, but thank you anyway." He hesitated before continuing. "I've worried for a long time what would happen to my parents if someone ever found out about me."
"You didn't seem too worried that afternoon," Lois muttered.
Clark chuckled slightly. "I guess I had other things on my mind."
Lois looked at him, mouth open. "You heard that?"
He had the good grace to look chagrinned. "Yeah. I've got great hearing."
"I'll have to remember that." She sighed. "What else can you do?"
"Fly."
"I got that one."
"I'm strong enough that we've never found anything I couldn't lift."
"Right."
"I can freeze things with my breath and heat things with my eyes – it can be anything from diffused to pinpoint accuracy and from slightly warm to literally burning a hole in something."
Lois remembered him drying her off after they got out of the Jacuzzi and starting the fire in the fireplace with just a shot of his... heat vision, she guessed it was. Now that she stopped to think about it, it amazed that he could carefully dry her off without hurting her and still start a fire with the same... power.
"I can see through things," he went on.
She remembered that, too, and turned bright red at the memory.
"Well, everything but lead," he amended. "I can't see through lead. I'm invulnerable to everything we've found since I was in my early teens. And I'm fast, really fast."
She remembered him getting from the bed to the bathroom in a flash. She tried to direct her thoughts away from the room in Arkansas. "So how much of that do we put in the article? Any references to anything that might infer that you've been here more than a couple of days are out, obviously. And how'd you get the Suit thing so fast?"
"I called my mom last night and I guess she stayed up all night working on a bunch of them. This was the one we liked the best, by far." He stretched out in mid-air, his hands propped behind his head, legs crossed at the ankle. "And I also have telescopic and microscopic vision."
"Right." She stared at him as he hovered a few inches above the sand. She shook her head slightly and pulled her notebook out of her bag. "So we just say that you're a friend, you're the last of your people and that you're here to help. Fighting for truth and justice or some such nonsense."
He rolled onto his side and propped his head on his hand. "Not 'Damn the torpedoes'?" he asked with a smirk.
Lois glared his direction. "No." She made a few notes. "Are you the last one from Krypton?"
"As far as I know." He rolled onto his back again, staring into the sky for long minutes before speaking again. "My parents – the Kents, that is – found me when I was just a couple months old. I was in a space capsule of some kind. For a long time we didn't know what I was. Alien, experiment, Soviet, what. When I was about fourteen, this... globe that was in the ship with me started to... talk to me, I guess. It showed me these hologram type messages. My... birth parents, Jor-El and Lara, said that the planet was going to explode and that only I would make it off the planet before it exploded."
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
He shrugged half-heartedly. "I never knew them. I mean, I don't *remember* them at all. And I couldn't have asked for better parents than Mom and Dad." He rolled again to look at her. "Thank you." He hesitated.
"For what?" she finally asked.
"I don't know if the possibility crossed your mind or what, but thank you for not having an abortion. I know this isn't what you planned and not what I would have planned either, but ever since I was old enough to really think about having kids, I wondered if I'd be able to have kids with an Earth woman. I mean, I'm not *from* here. And, granted, as far as I can tell, I'm pretty normal just... souped up, I guess, but thank you."
She shifted uncomfortably on the sand. "I can't say for sure what I would have done if I'd realized sooner that I was pregnant, but I was nearly done with my first trimester by the time I got a call from the doctor. I've always believed in a woman's right to choose, but for me personally..." She shrugged. "I guess I'm glad I didn't have to make that decision. I'm glad I was almost to the point that I wouldn't have considered it anyway. And I was in such shock for a few days that I was done with my first trimester before the shock ended."
"Would you have told me?" He wasn't looking at her anymore.
"I don't know," she whispered. "I didn't want to tell you now, but I also know that lawyers want to know those kinds of things and I didn't want you to find out that way. And Perry made me go to the barbeque fundraiser thing in Independence anyway so..."
"*That's* why you were in Kansas?" he asked incredulously. "I was there."
"I know." Lois hesitated. "I saw you."
"You did? I didn't see you."
She nodded. "It was from a distance. You were dancing with someone." She didn't look at him as she said it.
His brow furrowed as he thought about it. "I danced with lots of people that night. Mom, Granny, Nana, my cousin Kara, Rachel, Lana, Aunt Dorrie, my cousin Danielle, two of my cousin's kids but they're four and six, Karen, Amber, Jenn, Lisa, Lauren, Cat, Pam... Probably a couple others. It could have been any of them, I guess."
Lois did a slight double take at the mention of her co-worker's name – but surely there was more than one 'Cat' in the world. There was probably even more than one 'Cat' in Smallville. She shoved the rarely fully-dressed cougar out of her mind. "Brown hair, you walked off the dance floor with your arm around her. That's all I saw."
"Probably Cat," he said, still thinking. "We've been friends since Kindergarten. We were practically inseparable as kids. We played cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians and camped out in the farmyard and all kinds of stuff when we were kids."
Of course it was Cat. Lois didn't say anything, instead staring out over the water.
"I'm moving out," he said suddenly.
What?
"What?"
"I mean, I have to find another place to stay. I can't stay with you without knowing for sure this is going to work. I can't put you and the baby at risk."
"We're already at risk," she pointed out. "If someone realized you're Superman, it wouldn't take a half-decent researcher long to figure out we're married."
"Still, hopefully I'd have enough time to get you and my parents somewhere safe and not being *immediately* connected to you by staying at your apartment should help."
"By that logic, wouldn't it be safer if you were there and you could..." She made a waving motion with her hand. "...zoom me out of there?" It had *nothing* to do with wanting him to sleep with her. She repeated that to herself. *Nothing* to do with enjoying waking up in his arms.
He shrugged. "That's one way to look at it I guess. But regardless, I think it's better if I find somewhere else to stay. I've got some money saved up and from my tips and stuff the last few days."
"What can you afford on a few tips?" She sighed. "Regardless of whatever else, you shouldn't have to stay at some dive of a hotel. I've been there, done that and believe me, the Apollo Hotel or someplace like it is no place to stay."
"I'm sure I've stayed at worse places," he told her, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Huts with dirt floors in China or South America can't be better than the Apollo Hotel."
"Probably not," Lois conceded. "But it's..." She stopped. She didn't want him to get the... wrong idea. It probably was best for him to leave now rather than entangling herself further with him. The lawyers would be called as soon as things settled down and, though they'd be tied together for the rest of their lives through the baby, the sooner they cut off other ties, the better it would be for her heart. It was probably going to be broken enough as it was.
No. It almost definitely was going to be broken.
She sighed and conceded the point. "Maybe it would be best."
"What else do you need for an article?"
She shrugged. "I think I can manage from here." Her stomach growled loud enough for them both to hear it.
"Are you hungry?"
"Yeah."
He stood on the sand. "Well, let's head back to Metropolis and get something to eat then." He reached towards her.
She grasped his hand and he pulled her to her feet. She held her shoes in one hand as he spun back into Superman.
A minute later, they were airborne and headed for Metropolis.
*****
Lois stared at the menu and tried to decide what she wanted to eat. She knew what she wanted – everything – but not with Clark there. She'd have to order a... normal meal. She had felt better the last couple of days and suddenly wanted to eat everything in sight.
Finally, she decided she didn't care. She'd order whatever she wanted. It wasn't like she was asking Clark to pick up the tab or anything. She'd likely end up buying his dinner, too, given how broke he probably was and Callard's was a moderately nice place.
The waitress showed up, taking Clark's order first. She smiled and flirted a bit as Clark told her what he wanted. Lois fumed inwardly. He was wearing a ring, for crying out loud. Not that she cared if he flirted back. He *didn't*, but that wasn't the point. She finally conceded to herself that it was unlikely that the waitress could see his wedding ring, but that wasn't the point either.
Finally, she turned to Lois who proceeded to order an appetizer and two entrees. Then she noticed Clark's slightly raised eyebrows. At her glare, he resumed careful study of the table cloth. She couldn't help but notice the waitress' smirk as she effectively cut her tip in half.
"Don't say anything," Lois muttered at him. "You got me in this situation and I've hardly eaten for a week and now I'm starving so leave me alone."
"I didn't say a word."
"You thought it."
"Thought what?" He still didn't look at her.
She looked around to make sure no one was listening. "You got me pregnant. I know neither of us meant for it to happen, but I've been sick off and on for weeks now. And since this is a..." She looked around again and lowered her voice even further. "...*super* baby, it's entirely possible that that's why I'm so hungry right now. So don't even *think* about commenting on my diet. You don't know me and I don't know you and just because we're married and I'm pregnant doesn't give you any right to judge what I eat."
He finally looked up at her. "I'm not going to judge what you eat. I just thought it was... amusing that you were so hungry. I'm glad you're feeling better. Really."
"Well, stop finding it amusing." The waitress set an appetizer trio in front of her and a salad in front of Clark. Lois picked up a piece of calamari and popped it in her mouth.
He reached for a piece of his own, stopping when she glared at him again.
"You want some, order your own," she told him, reaching for a stuffed mushroom and eating it in one bite. A minute later it was gone and she went for a mozzarella stick. It wasn't long before she'd finished them all off.
A minute later, their meals arrived. They ate in near silence for several minutes.
"So, um, you never really told me how your doctor's appointment went," Clark finally said.
Lois shrugged. "It was fine. She did an ultrasound and said that the baby looks good. I got to hear the heartbeat, too."
"You got to see the baby?" he asked quietly.
Her fork full of manicotti stopped halfway to her mouth. She never even thought about him missing that part of her appointment; that he would have wanted to be there. "Yeah." She ate her bite of manicotti. "I have a picture if you want to see it."
He swallowed the food in his mouth. "Of course I want to see it." There was an incredulous tone to his voice.
She nodded. "Okay. I'll show you when you get your things then." Good. A reminder to both of them that he was moving out.
He nodded back and they ate the rest of their meal in virtual silence.
"Can I get anything else for you?" the waitress asked as she cleared their plates. The tone in her voice clearly indicated she thought Lois should be done.
"Chocolate cake, please," Lois replied frostily. She'd just cut her tip even further.
"Of course." The waitress turned to Clark. "And any dessert for you, sir?"
"No, thank you, Mary."
Lois tried not to glower at her as she walked away.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine." She was. She didn't care that someone else was flirting with him or that he was being nice back. First thing in the morning, she was going to call a lawyer. Surely Perry would know someone. But that would mean telling Perry. She was going to have to tell him soon enough.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"What?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Just thinking about everything I need to do. The article is about half written in my head, maybe more. I've got some leeway since Perry knows it's coming but I really need to have it done in two hours or so."
He nodded. "Okay. How can I help?"
"Come with me and we'll work in the conference room and you can answer any other questions I have."
"Here you go, ma'am." Mary the waitress, whose tip was about a quarter at that point, set the plate in front of Lois.
"Thank you."
Lois ate her cake slowly, savoring every bite.
"Good?" Clark asked.
She looked at him to see the amusement back in his eyes. "Very." She contemplated offering him one of the last two bites, but decided against it, finishing them both.
The black folder had mysteriously appeared on their table at some point. Lois dug her debit card out of her purse and stuck it in the pocket.
They waited in silence for the waitress to return. Lois signed the slip and set it back on the table.
Clark pulled his wallet out of his pocket. "How much do I owe you?"
"Nothing. I got it."
"Are you sure?"
She shrugged. "You paid for the hotel, didn't you?"
"Well, yeah."
"Then we're even."
Clark chuckled. "The hotel was way more than lunch."
She almost gave a smart aleck remark about how much he'd enjoyed the hotel so that dinner would cover her part of the hotel, but she managed to bite her tongue.
The voice over her shoulder caught her off-guard and sent a chill down her spine. "So, Lois, I see you decided eating was more important than chasing down the hot story of the day. Have you even *seen* Superman yet?"
Lois closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening her eyes and looking at the intruder. "So good to see you." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
The blonde turned to Clark and held out a carefully manicured hand. "Hi. I’m Linda King."
Lois sighed. What a great way to end a great meal.
*****
TBC
