Vanna (spinto@mi.montreal.com.br)
Summary: Tired of making excuses for Clark, tired of waiting for Clark, tired of missing Clark, Lois begins to rethink her marriage to Clark.
***
Lois and Clark have been married for three years now. Their marriage hasn't had any big crises until the past few days. There isn't just one reason; it's everything together. But they love each other so much and have decided to take some time apart so they can see if it will be permanent or not. Let's get back in time; let's go to last week at their house.
***
Lois just came from the Planet but Clark wasn't with her. This month had been really busy for him. There was a wave of crime in the city. He had to arrest the bad guys and write about it. Even though Lois said he could just do Superman's job and she could write about it he was too stubborn to accept that.
Lois walked to the kitchen and opened the freeze to find that it was empty, so she walked to the phone and ordered some Chinese food. She sat down on the couch and started to organize her papers when the phone rang. It was Martha.
"Hi Martha, how are you?" asked Lois sounding tired.
"I'm great. How 'bout you? You sound tired."
"I am tired."
"Is Clark home? I needed to talk to him."
"I need to talk to him too. I haven't see him since yesterday morning." said Lois with a bitter tone. Martha realized it but didn't asked her about it.
"Please leave a message for him. Take care of yourself."
"I will. Bye."
It was eleven o'clock when Lois finished with her papers. For an excuse to wait for her husband she went to take a shower, the second of the day. She spent a lot of time in there, she thought it was good time to think about everything. When she went to bed was midnight and, still, no sign of Clark. It was just one more night that she was going to sleep alone. She felt alone much like before she met Clark. But she couldn't complain, she knew when she married him that this would happen.
She woke up really early that Wednesday morning and found her husband all dressed for work. He was in the bathroom.
"Mornin' Clark."
"Mornin' honey," he said as he stepped out of the bathroom.
"While you take a shower I'll set up breakfast."
Lois nodded and stepped into the shower. This was their morning rut, it had been like that for the last year. In the shower she started to ask herself why she did that, why did she married him. This wasn't the first time she asked that but it was the first time she didn't find the answer. When she got out of the shower she headed for the kitchen and sat down to have her breakfast.
"So, Clark, how was yesterday?"
"There was a fire in the LexCorp building. It wasn't too big but while it burned a gang tried to break out of jail. It seems the fire was just to distract me and the police. After that was an aircraft in trouble and then…" Clark made 'the look'.
"What?"
"It's a robbery at the Metropolis bank. I'm sorry, honey, I have to go." He gave her a soft kiss on the cheek before flying out of the house.
Once again Lois went to work alone and gave everyone stupid excuses whenever they asked why Clark wasn't with her. It was nearly her lunch break when a black haired man walked into the newsroom and headed to Lois's desk. She didn't see him until he talked to her.
"How are you doing?" asked the man grinning at her.
"Oh, hi Dan," she was really surprised to see the D.E.A agent after so long.
"Are you free for lunch?"
"Yes, sure. How long has it been since we've seen each other?"
"Five years," he answered almost instantly.
Lois and Dan went to a small restaurant across the street, the same one she used to go to with Clark while they were dating. Although she wasn't interested in Dan, she felt so good being with a man who she knew wouldn't leave her for anything.
"So, Dan, what are you doing here in Metropolis? I heard that you got a promotion and would be assigned to Washington."
"I'm retired now. And you, still at the Planet and with Clark. I heard you two got married about three years ago."
"We did… And you, are you married or something?"
"No, I lost the woman of my dreams five years ago."
Lois got a little uncomfortable but she liked to hear that there was one guy who loved her. Dan's visit was making her think harder about her marriage and made her question her love for Clark.
While Lois was out, Clark showed up in the newsroom to take her out to lunch but he couldn't found her.
"Jimmy, where's Lois?"
"She's out. By the way, are you better?
"Better than what?
"Lois said you weren't feeling good so you stayed home this morning."
"Yeah, I'm fine. She's out where?"
"She's having lunch, I guess, at least that was what she said when she left with Dan."
"Dan?"
"Yeah, you know, the Scardino guy."
Anyone could see the mixture of anger and fear in Clark's eyes as he stepped into the elevator. He was going to have lunch alone today. When he crossed the street he saw Lois and Scardino at the restaurant. For a moment he thought about joining them but that was before he saw Scardino holding Lois' hand. He was angry with her and with himself because he knew that he hadn't given her much attention this days.
***
When she finished her work at the Planet, she planned to go home, but as she headed to her car she met Dan.
"Hi, Lois, do you want go to the movies or something? " Before Lois could answer him he said, "Oh, sorry, you must be going home to your husband."
Lois started to think about that and when Dan was leaving she said, "Wait! I would love to go to the movies."
Clark was waiting for her, sitting on the couch. He had heard a lot of cries for help but he ignored them all. At ten thirty Lois opened the front door to find her husband still sitting on the couch and not looking too happy.
"I have been waiting for you since seven o'clock. Where were you?
"I went to the movies."
"It wasn't with Scardino, was it?"
"How did you know?"
"Lucky shot. Today wasn't too busy so I passed by the Planet so we could have lunch together but Jimmy said that you were out with 'Dan'. So I decided to have lunch alone and saw you two *together*"
"We were not *together*"
"Oh, yeah, right. He was just holding your hand!" Clark said angrily as he walked into the bedroom.
"Clark, what are you trying to say?" now Lois was yelling.
"Nothing, Lois."
"I'm the one waiting everyday for you till midnight. I'm the one who always has to go to bed alone, the one who gets the phone everyday and tells your mother that you're not here and when she asks how are you, I have to say 'I don't know' because people out there spend more time with you than I do. I'm the one who has to give Jimmy and Perry stupid excuses for you not being with me. You can't blame me for going out with a friend one night because you waited for me for three hours. I don't even know what I had in my mind when I married you!"
Clark looked at her in shock. She saw in his eyes how much she hurt him with her last words and he saw it in hers. After a long silent moment she continued. "I never thought this day would come."
"Which day?" he asked not really wanting to know the answer.
"The day that I would ask myself why we got married and not find the answer, the day that I would ask myself if I still love you, the day I would start to think about living my life with someone else."
"That's what you want?"
"I don't know."
After that they slept side by side but not touching each other. The next morning Clark woke up after Lois, she was sitting on the couch watching the door. Clark stepped out of the bedroom and went to the living room and sat beside her. Next to them were Lois's bags.
"It was all my fault, wasn't it?" Clark asked gazing into her eyes.
"Nope, it was ours. You were always out and I never told you how much it bothered me. I guess I thought you knew it."
"And I guess I did but I wanted to hear it from you."
Lois looked at the ceiling trying not to cry.
"I have no idea how Alice made it for so many years."
"Is it permanent?"
"Nope. I just… we just need some time to think about things, to see if it's worth it."
"How long do you think it will take?"
"A month, a year, forever, I don't know."
"Are you going to see anybody while we are apart?"
"If you are asking about Scardino, the answer is no."
"So … where are you going?"
"I don't know. I'll go to the airport and get on the first plane I can. I already talked to Perry, this will be my accumulated vacation."
"The one we was going to use on our second honeymoon."
"Yeah. I called a cab. Could you help me with this?" Lois asked as she pointed to her bags.
"No. Ask the cab guy to do it, I can't do that."
Suddenly they heard a cab's horn. They both got up. Lois moved to open the door and asked the taxi driver to get her bags.
"I guess that's it," she said.
"Yeah."
Lois gave him a long and soft kiss and left. When the door closed they both started to cry.
THE END
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