Yay! Another HoL story! Being it's a story for Kaethel, we shouldn't be surprised.
She had expected Clark to welcome her back gladly. But instead, she had felt coldness and something else radiating from him. When she’d looked at his face she’d seen fear in his eyes. He’d quickly covered it, but she’d noticed it.
It's good that Clark isn't so forgiving. In the show, he's just wayyyy too good. After all the stuff Lois put him through, I wouldn't have been surprised if he refused to give her a hug in the first place.
She was now Mrs. Lex Luthor.
Eep. Clark doesn't know that Lois said no before Perry and Bill bust in. This leads to some very interesting conversation.
Horrified, Lois looked at Clark’s slumping back. Her best friend couldn’t stand to have her around.
It was simply all her fault.
She’d driven Clark away by accepting Luthor’s proposal. Her assumption of jealousy earlier wasn’t true at all. She now knew that Clark had been right all along about Luthor. It was all so clear now. Clark despised her almost-to-be-husband. And even with her reporting skills, she’d failed to see what was right in front of her. She could slam her head against a wall; she’d been so stupid! It was obvious Clark blamed her for that and even made her pay.
At least she realizes how bad her behavior's been to him. She deserves the cold shoulder for a while.
“Yes, Clark. I know we’ve been through a very difficult period. And I’ve missed you very much. But you seem so distant and unsure around me now. What’s the matter? What did I do wrong?”
As Tempus would say, "Hello, duh?"
With a deep breath, he tried to steady his voice before speaking again. “I know. I just don’t understand what you ever saw in that creep. And I feel really bad that you didn’t trust my judgment. Maybe I should have told you what I knew, even if it wasn’t solid proof, but it might have changed a lot and then we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”
“You’re darn right about that! Why didn’t you ever tell me about that? We shared everything else. And you made me believe I could trust you while your actions showed I couldn’t. Don’t you see that’s why I couldn’t talk to you about all this?”
Here, they both are at fault. Clark's had a year as either Clark or Superman to tell her specifics about why Luthor was evil. Superman could have mentioned it at any time, but Clark's ego got in the way. But then Lois wasn't interested in hearing any particulars from Clark. They'd get into arguments immediately, making anything Clark says meaningless.
“No, I don’t! You knew me! And you also knew I can put aside my own feelings to discuss something. Since you already knew how I felt, we didn’t even have to discuss it. But you never even bothered to ask *why* I felt that way!” Clark spat out.
“Why should I? Yesterday you said you didn’t have the proof until recently. And you know I wouldn’t have believed it without that proof! I think you’re still acting on jealousy! Luthor offered me what you never could.”
But then Lois contradicts herself. Big surprise.
She berates Clark for never telling her why he distrusted Luthor, but yet she says here that she wouldn't have believed him anyway without absolute proof.
Then she says that deadly line about Luthor offering her what he couldn't. I have a problem with Clark's lack of reaction to it. He registers the comment but dismisses it from his mind almost immediately. I would think that if anyone in love heard this from the person they were in love with, they would barely be able to think of anything else. A comment like that would be pretty damaging and would give plenty of ammunition for Clark to just walk away and never talk to her again. Yet here, he practically ignores it. I think having Clark be very upset here would make more sense. Instead, he lets Lois continue on the offensive. An explosion on his part would work better. Maybe an angry comment on his not being rich enough or not being exciting enough or not being criminal enough for her would have been good. It doesn't have to be rational, but anger would fit better here.
At least Clark does leave, but that's due to a Superman emergency. I would have liked it if he were upset by that comment and left Lois without an emergency.
Can't wait until Tuesday for the next part!