By Farah Chisham (fchisham@indiana.edu)
Summary: Upon hearing of the death of an old college buddy's wife, Clark becomes depressed thinking about human frailty.
Here's something I would love to see! :) (sometime after WHALTTA)
***
"Good-morning, Clark!" Lois's face brightened up as she saw her partner walk into the news room. She noticed he was wearing the tie she picked out for him while they were at the Metropolis Mall yesterday. She knew he loved "The Three Stooges" and thought it would look great with his charcoal suit that he wore on their first date(which was the one he wore today). 'Wow, that was a while ago!'
"Hello, Lois, " he stated, not as happy as she was.
She immediately became concerned and walked over to him, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, really. Not with me, anyway."
"Clark, I know that look, tell me. We both know you are invulnerable, but not to feelings."
He smiled a little. "One of my good friends from college called me this morning, and he told me that his wife just died and just needed someone to talk to. I knew both of them. They both worked at the Smallville Press and Connie developed cancer last year."
"Clark, I'm so sorry, " she said while rubbing his back. "What else?"
"Chuck called me when they first found out and let me know how things were going. He called me about a month ago to tell me that everything looked promising, " he stopped looking down and looked her right in the eye, "just one month ago…"
"Clark…"
"Look, I just need to get to work, okay…"
As Clark began to walk to his desk, Lois began to say something, but stopped…she had a better idea. She watched Clark sit down at his desk, and didn't start until she was sure that he would be listening. "Clark, " she whispered.
He looked up at her, smiled, then looked at his computer screen and began typing.
"It's okay, you can keep working, I just want you to listen to me. I love you…"
He was still looking at his screen, and she pretended to do some work and hoped nobody would think she was talking to herself, "I am not going anywhere. I am sorry about your friend, but you can't let it affect our relationship." Okay, let’s turn on the computer and look at my e-mail.
"Things like that happen to good people, but they would have never had the joy of each other if they didn't take a chance. That's my motto, 'Take a chance', but I guess you figured out that long ago."
They turned and looked at each other across the room and shared a smile.
"Clark, that doesn't happen to everyone, but everyone dies eventually. Let's enjoy ourselves while we have each other. Clark, we have the rest of our lives together, " Lois had stopped what she was doing and looked in his direction, from the bustle of the news room, no one had noticed her whispering, "we can't dwell on the inevitable, but we can spend the rest of our lives together.."
Clark looked up to see her eyes fixed on his.
"That's right, I want to spend my life with you. Please marry me, Clark, so neither of us will be alone."
This time, Clark's face brightened up. His mouth formed the word, "Yes."
And they lived happily ever after…
The End
(conversa.txt)