By Carol M <carolmfolc@gmail.com>
Rated: G
Submitted: March 2001
Summary: Clark and Lois have some surprise gifts for each other on the occasion of their first anniversary. A sequel to the Carol M's "Lois and Clark and the IRS."
This story is the sequel to "Lois and Clark and the IRS." It was originally a Valentine's Day vignette but since I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with it, I wrote two. This one could have been a prequel to the other one, except for the timing. So I changed it so that it occurs early enough before Lois and Clark and Valentine's Day to be feasible. Hope you like it!
Anyway, the characters are not mine. Well, most of them aren't anyway. They belong to people with a LOT more money than me! I just wanted to have some fun!
***
"Mrs. Kent?"
Lois didn't move.
"Mrs. Kent?"
The voice was more persistent this time.
"Mrs. Kent?"
This time the voice couldn't be ignored.
She looked at the face the voice was coming from.
"What?"
"It's time to get up, sweetheart."
"Clark, I don't want to."
"Sorry, gotta go. Perry will be really mad if we are late AGAIN!"
"Aren't we newlyweds for a year after getting married?" Lois swung her legs over the side of the bed.
"Honey, our year's almost up."
"But we've only KNOWN about it for a couple of months. It's not fair! People don't expect you to be on time at places when you're newlyweds."
"I know, Lois. You better hop in the shower or not even the S-Express will get us to work on time."
Lois had that gleam in her eye, AGAIN. "Care to join me for that shower, flyboy?"
Clark groaned. "As nice as that sounds, I'll have to take a rain check." He kissed her forehead and helped her up. "Now get!"
"Yes, sir."
Clark watched his wife walk into the bathroom and smiled. The adjustment to married life hadn't been easy for either of them, but he knew they wouldn't trade it for the world. They had known for about two and a half months now and things were great! They had been the best two months of his life and he knew Lois felt the same way!
Technically, their first anniversary wasn't for a time yet, but Lois had insisted that they celebrate early. There was a big convention on their anniversary weekend and they weren't going to be able to do anything special. They weren't even sure that Perry was going to let both of them go. They had decided that they needed two anniversaries every year — once for the night at the hotel (they were going to go back later, closer to their anniversary and do things right) and once for the day they'd found out and Lois wanted him to jump out of the window for his social security benefits! He planned on flying her somewhere for that anniversary.
They had decided that they would take turns planning their anniversary. Lois had insisted that she had planned the year before. *Sure,* thought Clark. *She'd planned it. We ended up eating chocolate ice cream and watching ALL the "Lethal Weapon" movies!* And so it was his turn this year. The only rule, besides the money limit, was that Superman couldn't do any of it. He even had to use the oven and pot holders and a lighter if he wanted to make dinner at home! It just wasn't fair!
"Lois, you need to hurry, honey!"
"I'm coming. I'm coming." Lois walked into the living room to see her husband sitting on the couch watching the news in his boxers. "You aren't exactly ready either, mister."
Clark grinned at her and disappeared. Literally.
Lois hated it. He was standing in front of her one second…gone the next… and then back, shirt tucked in, tie neatly knotted and no sign of the suit anywhere.
"Ready?"
Lois just gave him a look and headed out of the apartment.
***
The day was fairly quiet at the newsroom, so Lois and Clark were able to slip off for lunch together. Another rule — lunch didn't count.
"What? Do you make these up as you go along?"
Lois just smiled. "Yes." She already knew what his present was going to be and she knew he would love it! "So, what are we doing tonight?"
"I can't tell you."
"That's not one of the rules."
"Okay. I thought we'd sit on the couch, eat chocolate ice cream and have a 'Lethal Weapon' marathon."
"Sure, Clark."
"If you don't want to believe me…" Clark grinned. She knew he was kidding and she was right. He had a spectacular evening planned, even without the help of his alter-ego!
***
They arrived at what had been Clark's apartment and was now theirs, at about six o'clock. Lois was told to go to the bedroom and stay there until Clark told her to come out.
About seven, Lois, never known for her patience, finally called, "Can't I come out yet?"
"I would have been done over forty-five minutes ago, but you had to have rules! So, no, stay put! Ten more minutes!"
In reality, dinner had been easy to fix. Clark had spent the last hour working on something else. It wasn't much, but he hoped Lois would like it. She knew that he wasn't very creative, not really. If he concentrated and did stuff super-speed, he was fine. He could draw people's faces to help the police or make origami, but only using his speed. If he had to make something slowly it was horrid, and Lois knew that.
He finally stood up, hid what he had been working on and called her to dinner. She came out of the bedroom to find him carrying a steaming bowl of penne pasta, using hot pads, and a tossed salad. As she crossed the room, he set down the dishes and held her chair as she sat down. "Milady, your dinner is served." He used a lighter to light the candles and the remote control to turn on a CD.
"Very impressive. Pot holders, lighter, remote control. No super powers there!"
"You'll wish you hadn't made that rule later!"
"Why?"
"No reason." Clark knew how much she loved dancing with him; their own special kind of dancing.
They enjoyed their dinner; the time spent talking was just what they needed. Afterwards, Clark told her to sit still and close her eyes. She did, knowing how upset he would be if she peeked. He put a pair of earmuffs on her head, so that she couldn't hear when he went to run bath water. His landlord was always pleased when he made improvements to the place, but the jacuzzi tub probably wasn't staying when they left.
When the tub was almost full, he led her in.
"Clark, how did you know this is what I would need? And why didn't you let me take a bath while you fixed dinner?"
"Because I know you. And because then I couldn't join you. I'll be back in a few minutes." Lois slipped into the luxurious bubbles. Relaxing was something she had learned to enjoy. She knew she would need it even more from now on. She couldn't wait to see Clark's face when she gave him his present, though if they were taking a bath together it could be a while.
Clark came in soon after, a satisfied grin on his face. He slipped into the tub with her and they spent what seemed like forever together. They talked some more, about the future. About what they wanted out of life. The discussion was interrupted every so often with soft, gentle kisses. The passion they had come to know so well, that was still such a mystery to them in so many ways, lay just beneath the surface, but neither were ready to give up quality talk time. With Superman around, they didn't get it all that often. The water started getting cold and Lois begged him to heat it up with his vision, but he refused. He wouldn't break her rules.
They toweled off and put on their robes. Lois had expected something more to happen, but it hadn't. Sometimes she hated that maddening self-control of his. Clark waited as she walked into the bedroom. There was soft candlelight and rose petals spread across the bed. In the middle was his project.
Lois turned and looked at him as he followed her. "Clark, it's beautiful."
"You haven't opened it yet," he said ruefully. "You may not like it."
"I'll love it because it is from you."
"We had that five dollar limit, so I couldn't go overboard."
"I know." Lois sat on the edge of the bed and opened the box. "Oh, Clark," was all she could say. Tears welled up in her eyes. She was holding a photo album. On the front was a picture that Jimmy had somehow managed to take at Lex Luthor's White Orchid Ball two days after they met. They were dancing. "I don't know how anyone got this shot. We couldn't have danced for more than a minute or two and I know I didn't have the nicest look on my face for most of it."
Clark sat down next to her. "We got lucky. The one second that you had a decent expression on your face and Jimmy took the picture."
They spent the next fifteen minutes going through the photo album. He had gotten some of that scrapbooking stuff from his mom, so the photos had been cut to interesting shapes and there were all kinds of thought bubbles and such throughout the book. There was also plenty of room for more.
"And you did all of this without super powers?" Lois was doubtful. She knew Clark's normal speed artistic talent.
"Yep. Why do you think you had to wait in here for dinner? I hadn't gotten it finished yet. Dinner was a breeze. This was not."
Lois took a deep breath. She was ready to give Clark his present. She reached into her nightstand and pulled out a package. "Here. This is for you. I found it on sale a few weeks ago and I wanted you to have it. I just wasn't sure when I would give it to you."
Clark opened the package carefully. It was a book. He read the title. "'What to Expect When She's Expecting: A Man's Guide to Pregnancy'. Lois, why do I need this?" The words were out before he had time to process the information. "You mean… does this mean… are we… are you…?"
Lois couldn't take any more. She flung her arms around his neck. "Yes, Daddy, we are!"
Clark just held her for the longest time, disbelief written all over his face. Finally, he pulled away. He was obviously having a hard time controlling his emotions. "Lois, are you sure? You haven't been sick or anything, have you? Because if you have and I didn't notice…"
"No, Clark. I haven't been sick. It has been a really good pregnancy so far. No problems at all. I went to the doctor last week while you were in Indonesia with a mudslide or something. As much as I hate seeing you leave as Superman, I was glad that time, because I didn't know how I was going to get away otherwise."
"Well, I guess you are glad that you didn't annul the marriage then?" He kissed her forehead.
"Very glad." She kissed his jaw.
"Glad about anything else?" He kissed her nose.
"Glad you really don't have inadequacy issues." She kissed his lips, softly.
"We proved that a long time ago, remember? Anything else you are glad about, Mrs. Kent?" He kissed her cheek.
"I am VERY glad about this baby." She kissed his lips again, not quite as softly this time.
"Is that all?" He kissed her other cheek.
"I'm glad you know how to kiss, farmboy." She kissed him again, with more urgency.
"Let me show you." He kissed her and she threw the rules out the window as they floated in each other's arms.
THE END