By LaraMoon <laramoon@mac.com>
Rated: G
Submitted: October 2006
Summary: In this sequel to "Wrestle Me This," a now sober Lois suddenly remembers the events of a certain Beer Night…
Author's Note:
As you can probably tell from the title of this piece, this is a sequel to "Wrestle Me This".
…and I'd said there would be no further interruptions. Right!
I blame this one on all of you who asked for Lois to remember Beer Night. Well, there you go. :) It didn't take all that long to write, so again, don't expect stellar quality writing. It's just a little piece of fluff, written for the sole purpose of putting a smile on people's faces.
I hope you enjoy it!
***
It had been a very slow news day… Actually, it had been a very slow news *week*! By the time 3 PM rolled around on Friday, Lois was pretty much bored out of her skull. She had had it up to here with dog shows, fruit fly sprayings and other such fascinating subjects! Ever since she'd complained about these things not being worth the ink they were printed with, Lois never got assigned to these stories unless there was strictly nothing else to do. And now, as much as she hated working on "non-news" pieces as she called them, it had been either that or twiddling her thumbs this week… Unfortunately, she knew there was no way Perry would let her just sit there and count the tiles on the floor all day long.
For a few fleeting moments, she almost considered embarking on a criminal career, complete with a secret identity, just so she would have something more interesting to write about. She laughed at the idea. A secret identity! As if putting on a wig and different clothes or something would be enough to shield her true identity from the rest of the world. Sure! She didn't think she'd be very successful as a criminal anyway. Although the prospect of being caught by Superman did have some appeal…
From there her thoughts strayed and she found herself building the ideal dream life with Superman, in her head. A house in the country with a cute little picket fence — for the cachet — a big old cat sleeping lazily on the porch all day and a couple darling little dark-haired kids running around the yard. Everything plus total marital bliss, of course. She sighed.
"What are you dreaming about?" Clark asked, pulling her back to the much less interesting reality of the newsroom.
"Nothing that concerns you," she replied, absently. She turned to look at her partner and suddenly found herself wondering if perhaps Clark could fit into her imaginary life, instead of Superman… She blushed and looked away as she realized that he'd be perfect for it.
Jimmy walked by her desk, carrying a pile of paper in his hands. It offered a welcomed distraction from the thoughts Lois wasn't certain she wanted to be having right now.
"Hey, CK," Jimmy said, handing Clark the documents. "This just came for you."
"Thanks, Jimmy," he answered before the copy boy disappeared just as fast as he'd come.
"What is it?" Lois asked Clark, curious. Maybe it was something for a story, she thought. Whatever it was, it had to be a lot more interesting than this idiotic piece she'd ended up with. Sure it was a breakthrough, but who in their right mind was really going to start ordering *pizza* via the Internet?
"Nothing that concerns you," he replied, with a silly grin.
"Oh, come on! Is it anything newsworthy?" Lois asked as she got up and walked over to her partner's desk.
"Maybe… Then again, maybe not," he told her, an amused look in his eyes.
"Well if it is and this turns into a nice, interesting story, you'd better let me in on it! Or I swear, I will never speak to you again as long as I live."
He laughed. "Is that a threat or a promise?" he teased.
Lois glared at him for a second. "Ha ha! Funny guy," she said as she brought her hand to the pile of paper that was now sitting on his desk.
In one quick swift of the wrist, Clark grabbed the documents and held them away from her.
"Come on, Clark! We're partners, we're supposed to share!" she pleaded.
"Says who?" He got up from his chair, holding the papers high above his head where he knew she could not reach them.
Lois got up on his chair, so she'd be high enough to grab the documents, but Clark took a step back so they would no longer be within her reach. She stepped off the chair and tried grabbing at his arm, but that led her nowhere.
Lois stopped for a second and then decided to charge right into him. Perhaps he'd be startled enough to drop the files? Or even better, lose balance and fall, flat on his butt. No luck, though. He did not budge at all.
"Are you sure you want to try wrestling me for them?" he asked, laughing. "You don't know who you're dealing with, here!"
Wrestling?
Lois got the strangest sense of deja-vu. She was pretty certain she'd never wrestled Clark to the ground — she would have remembered *that* for sure — but there was something about that thought that sounded awfully familiar for some reason.
Suddenly, the details of a certain Beer Night came flooding back to her conscious mind. She'd dared him to an arm wrestling match… Yes, she remembered now. He'd vehemently refused and had argued that she had had too much to drink and then… Oh dear!
Lois grabbed the end of Clark's tie and tugged at it sharply.
"Conference room. Now!" she ordered. She turned on her heel and walked away as quickly as she could.
Clark dropped the papers on his desk. He wasn't certain what had angered Lois so, but he wasn't laughing anymore.
"Take cover everyone," Jimmy warned, "Hurricane Lois is in the building."
As Clark walked past him, on his way the conference room, he heard Jimmy say, "Nice going, CK! You've awoken the beast again!"
Once inside the room, Clark closed the door and waited for whatever fury Lois was preparing to unleash on him.
Lois looked nervously around the room. The blinds were all safely shut. Good, she thought.
"You…" she started, slowly, "You… You're him, aren't you?"
"Him? Him who? Lois, I don't know what you're talking about," he replied. To be honest, he did have a fairly good idea who she meant, but he wasn't sure what had suddenly brought this on.
"Superman…" she whispered, blushing madly. "You're Superman. I remember now."
Oh… God. Beer Night. Yeah, Clark remembered too, now.
He swallowed, uneasily. "I'm… uh… I'm sorry, Lois. I'm sorry I lied to you about it and… Well I hope someday you'll understand why… Please don't be mad, I…"
"Mad?" she interrupted, frowning. "At you? Oh… No, no. That's not it at all."
Clark blinked in confusion. "What? You're not…" He stopped as he realized she really didn't look mad at all. "Well, you looked… mad. Before. No?"
"Oh, don't get me wrong, I *am* mad," she explained. "I'm just not mad at you. Not really. I mean… Honestly, I think I know you well enough by now to figure out you had good reasons for keeping it a secret. I'm sure none of them had anything to do with me…"
"Actually…" he cleared his throat and continued, "They had everything to do with you."
"Oh?" she said, puzzled. "Oh," she added as this particular revelation began to sink in.
"So… uh? Are we… um… Are we… Ok?" he stammered.
"No," she told him, shaking her head. "Not yet, anyway. You see… As much as I remember from that night, there's something that's really making me very, very mad."
"Whatever it was, Lois, I'm sorry. I promise that…"
"Would you quit interrupting?" she cut in. "Or I am going to end up being mad at you, Clark. Really."
She took a few steps forward in his direction, stopping only once she found herself a few small inches away from him.
"That night," she started, "I remember something about you planning on collecting on a kiss that I'd mentioned. And you know… the one thing that angers me the most… is that, for the life of me, I cannot remember that kiss. I mean, there *was* one, wasn't there?"
"Oh yes, absolutely," he confirmed. "Let's see if I can remember how it went…"
Clark wrapped his arms around Lois' waist and slowly lowered his head before capturing her lips in a long, tender kiss. Her hands quickly found their way to his shoulders and ended up buried in his hair.
"Ah, yes…" she whispered after a short pause, "I'm starting to remember now."
He smiled and brushed the tip of his nose against hers. They stood there in each other's arms for several minutes, simply enjoying the moment.
"Clark?" Lois asked finally, a twinkle in her eyes, "Would you fly me home? Please?"
"With pleasure," he told her.
"You do realize what this means, don't you?" she asked, suggestively.
He raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "I'm not entirely sure I'm following you," he admitted.
"Well, once you get me home, you have to know that I'll never let you leave again. You'll be stuck with me for the rest of your natural life… You know… Since you *are* Superman…"
He broke into his million-dollar smile and said, "As long as you realize this time I definitely may hold you to it."
"I hope so," she whispered softly as she leaned in for another kiss.
THE END
Bottom Dweller's Note: (j/k!)
Pizza Hut holds the distinction of being the first pizza place ever to offer online ordering. The first pizza was ordered and delivered on Friday, 12 August 1994.
…btw, I'd like to point out that I don't really care that much for pizza and have never ordered any online myself (BBQ Chicken, yes. Pizza, no.) I was just looking for something odd for Lois to report about and the date on this was just absolutely perfect!