By coolgirl <coolgirllooc@yahoo.com>
Rated: PG
Submitted: January 2008
Summary: As Lois and Clark take a walk in the park, their relationship becomes "something more."
This is a Christmas Ficathon story written for Alisha Knight.
I checked out the show air-date and found that Christmas must have come sometime after *Honeymoon in Metropolis* so I wove my story around that episode.
Thank you, Mona and Classicalla, for going over this one and offering me suggestions.
***
*A week after Honeymoon in Metropolis*
Lois stepped out of the elevator and turned around as she heard her partner's voice from behind her.
"You busy this evening?"
"Hmm... I was thinking of taking a nice long shower, relax or go to sleep," Lois replied mischievously, remembering that she had responded similarly the previous week when she'd shocked her co-workers by making a reservation at the Lexor Hotel for pure relaxation.
"Lois Lane? Sleep?" Clark laughed as he pinched himself on his arm as if testing if he was dreaming. "Nope! I'm not dreaming!"
"Oh ye of little faith!"
"Oh yes, I know! You showed us all what your idea of relaxation was when you nailed Congressman Harrington last week!"
"Yes, but I spent the next three days totally in relaxing my over-taxed nerves in the honeymoon suite."
"I think you're one of those people whose nerves get over-taxed if you relax," Clark muttered.
"I heard that, Kent!" Lois called out as she swung her small work bag over her shoulder and started to walk away, oblivious to the effect the gentle sway of her hips had on her partner.
Clark stood there gawking at her for almost two whole minutes before he realized that he hadn't exactly told her what he'd wanted to say. He ran after her.
"Lois, wait!" he called out to his partner who looked over her shoulder and stopped walking. Clark reached her side pretending to pant for breath and smiled at her.
"What?" Lois asked, a small smile twitching at the corner of her mouth. Clark always brought out strange reactions in her, she thought. And his happy mood was so infectious that it made even *her* want to smile back at him. And Lois Lane's smiles were precious -- not everybody got them!
"I thought... I'd walk home with you. That's all."
"Clark, your apartment is that way and mine is this way. I wonder why you want to walk me home," she asked pointedly.
"Isn't that what friends do? Make sure their friends get back home safely." Clark smiled that small, silly yet sweet smile of his and she couldn't resist his offer.
"Okay. But don't try anything funny!" she said, looping her arm through his, repeating his own warning to her when Perry had ordered them to go undercover together as honeymooners.
Clark laughed out aloud and said, "I wouldn't dream of it!"
"Try dreaming of that, Kent and I'll rip out your spleen," she said, laughing, eliciting a wide thousand-watt smile from her partner.
Lois didn't know why she felt so happy, so carefree with this man -- her partner.
It was probably because of the time they'd spent together at the Honeymoon Suite the previous week. Or maybe the festive mood. But, somehow she knew that it wasn't just because of the Christmas season -- she'd never been one for celebrating Christmas or any other holiday, as a matter of fact.
Probably the forced intimacy with her partner had made her reconsider many things about him. Perhaps he was the last decent guy on Earth -- he certainly hadn't behaved like any other man she'd met. She'd been expecting him to flirt with her and try to get her into bed with him. Instead he'd wanted to flip for the bed! She'd thought he'd play mind-games with her, but instead he'd wanted to play board games! If that wasn't the most unusual of situations, then she didn't know what was! A man with a woman -- alone, sharing a hotel room -- the *Honeymoon* Suite, in fact, and he'd wanted to play Scrabble!
If she weren't so sure that he was attracted to her, she would have thought that something was wrong with either her or him. But he was attracted to her. She knew! She'd seen it in his eyes when he'd thrown her on the bed and kissed her. His heart had thudded against her breast, and he'd let out a soft, almost inaudible groan before breaking the kiss and sliding off her.
The mere memory of the kiss sent a delicious shiver through her and she sighed happily. She still didn't know why that kiss made her feel so happy.
Not wanting to dwell upon the reasons for her happiness, Lois instead decided to be happy -- just be happy!
"Let's walk through the park," she said, holding Clark's hand and dragging him towards the park -- or what was supposed to be the park.
The whole area was covered with snow. Everything -- the trees, the benches, the kids' slide, the see-saw, the huge kids' toy-house -- in short, everything appeared to be painted in white.
Clark took in the surroundings and his eyes gleamed with joy. Something about snow had always fascinated him. He'd always loved winter -- all those countless snow ball games that he had played and those snow men he'd built with his friends in his childhood in Smallville as they had competed with each other in trying to build the tallest and biggest snowman. He remembered how he'd sneaked countless of his dad's scarves, hats and coats to wrap around his snowman. He loved the summer sun and he loved the winter snow!
And he loved Christmas -- his favorite holiday! Initially, the attraction had been mainly because of Santa's secret nocturnal visit to shower him with presents. Many a Christmas night he'd stayed awake waiting for Santa to come. But then, once he'd realized his dad had been the one playing Santa for all those years, he'd started loving Christmas because everybody seemed to be happy.
If there was one thing he absolutely loved, it was being happy and making people around him happy. And one thing he wanted more than anything else was to make his partner happy.
Lois pushed open the frozen gate and stepped inside the park, dragging him behind her. The snow seemed predominant here, more than the roads and the walks because it hadn't been cleared or salted as it had been on the road. He saw Lois' footprints on the snow and felt his own feet sink beside hers in the snow. Somehow seeing his footprints beside Lois' made him realize the importance of the moment -- *he* was here with Lois, enjoying the season with her, walking beside her and laughing with her. His heart raced with inexplicable joy. Being with Lois always did that to him.
"Clark? Helloooo... come back to Earth..." Lois waved her hand before his face, breaking his trance.
"Uh... just wool-gathering. Come on! Let's walk through this pathway. It has less snow on it." He gently steered her towards their right with a hand on the small of her back.
As they walked, his hands slowly and involuntarily stole across her waist to pull her closer and he reveled in this new feeling of closeness. He briefly wondered if he should remove his hand, but then Lois patted his hand on her waist and smiled up at him. And he was lost!
She was telling him something, he realized, and his gaze instinctively dropped to her mouth. He watched the way her mouth formed the words, how her entire face lit up when she laughed, the way she absently wet her lips with the tip of her tongue, and his hand on her waist tightened with a sudden impulsive urge to pull her into his embrace.
He almost did, but then she turned around to face him and started walking backwards, keen on explaining to him some weird concept on villain psychology.
Not his favorite subject right now, but if *Lois* was talking about it -- or anything, for that matter -- then he was willing to listen. After all, wasn't her voice music to his ears?
Oh boy, he was losing it completely! He was in love -- totally, irrevocably in love and he'd never felt that way with anybody else. He'd always known he loved her. Yet, at this moment he fell in love with her, again!
Yes, this was love! He loved her face, her smile, her style, the way she walked and talked and sometimes babbled to herself, and he absolutely loved that she was letting him walk her home. And he loved the way she was explaining something to him right now, as if he were a lunkhead who couldn't grasp anything.
He loved her. Period.
He smiled a slow smile. She looked up at him quizzically.
"What? Did I say something funny?"
"No, it's just... oops!" Clark called out, extending his hand out to her as Lois almost slipped in the snow.
"Hey! It's slippery..." she exclaimed as Clark gently caught her and righted her. "Thanks. What were you saying?" Lois asked, turning to face him, when she slipped again and flailed her hands, trying to catch Clark's hand for balance.
But unfortunately, she could get hold of only his tie. She caught it firmly, only to pull him down along with her.
They landed together on the snow with a soft thud! And stayed just like that for a whole minute!
"Lois? Are you okay?" Clark asked, concerned.
"Mmm... hmm..." She nodded, even though she seemed a bit unsure. She was alright, physically, but something seemed so weird about having Clark on top of her. It was the same feeling that had consumed her during that pretend kiss at the Lexor Hotel but she couldn't put a finger on what it was that she was feeling. She sighed and wiggled a bit.
Clark, meanwhile, tried to cool his racing heart. It wasn't the fall that had affected him, he realized -- it was falling on top of Lois. He had been secretly wishing and wanting it ever since he'd tasted her and felt her respond to his kiss when they'd posed as honeymooners. Every fiber in his being had been yearning, every nerve ending had been craving for more and every beat of his heart had been painful, wanting to extend the kiss on and on and never end.
Thinking about the kiss was not helping him. Immediately he rolled off to lie next to her, to cool his body down but then Lois did the unexpected!
She rolled along with him to lie on top of him.
And kissed him. On his mouth. While they were lying on the snow.
Suddenly she pulled back and shook her head as if trying to clear it, and Clark wondered if she'd been hit too hard on her head. She was behaving as if she had been. Lois Lane never kissed Clark Kent! Not if she was sane.
"Lois? Are you okay... mmmfff" She swooped down and kissed him again, only it was harder and sweeter this time.
She gently ran her tongue over his lower lip and nibbled on it softly. He let out a small groan and his own tongue darted out to caress her upper lip. She mewled softly, the sound sending a delicious shiver through his body and his hand slid up her back, gently cupping her head, pulling her closer to deepen the kiss.
Holding her close, he rolled again without breaking the kiss so that she was beneath him. He plundered her mouth, alternating between slow deep kisses and soft pecks, until she gently pulled back to take a deep breath.
Now she knew what was so weird about having Clark on top of her. Now she knew what feeling had consumed her during their *honeymoon* kiss. Now she knew why she'd kissed him here, in a public place. Because it felt right!
It was so perfect, and that was why it was weird! It was so right that it seemed impossible. A thousand percent perfection!
A sudden giggle brought her out of her reverie and she looked up at Clark only to see that he was looking back at her with the same confused expression. Another series of giggles followed the first one. Together they turned to look at the source of the giggles.
What they saw made them both blush!
At least a dozen school children clad in blue uniforms stood around them watching them with fascination.
They tried to untangle themselves hurriedly and dust the snow off their clothes.
Suddenly a little girl pointed at Lois and asked in a small voice, "You love him?"
Lois blinked twice before turning beet red. Before today, she'd have answered with a 'No!' immediately, but now she wasn't so sure.
"We are friends," Clark answered for her and giving their eager audience a thousand-watt smile, he pulled Lois towards the park's exit gate.
***
"Umm... Lois? We need to talk," Clark said softly, as they turned around the block and opened the huge common entrance gate and stepped up the stairs leading to her apartment.
Lois refrained from looking up at him. What if he thought that she had behaved abominably? Was he going to berate her for conducting herself like a mad woman, that, too, in a public place? Oh God, what if they'd been caught?
She still couldn't explain what had made her act in such a frolicsome manner, except that his mouth had been so close and she hadn't been able to resist. And the memory of that small taste she'd had just a week ago had screamed at her, 'Go on Lois! This is your chance! Get him!' And she'd kissed him.
She opened the door to her apartment and stepped in. Pulling her completely drenched overcoat off and the sweater over her head, she walked inside without looking back at her partner. 'We need to talk.' His words echoed inside her mind and she shuddered.
"Lois..."
"You said we're friends. Friends sometimes kiss," she interrupted quickly without looking at him, trying to cover up for her wanton behavior.
"Friends do not kiss like that, Lois!" Clark said softly, stepping inside her apartment and closing the door with a soft click.
Something in his voice caught her attention and made Lois look up at Clark shyly. She gasped at the tender look on his face.
"Are you saying we are... more than friends?" Lois asked in a small voice, dreading his answer.
"I... hope... we can be more than *just* friends. We could try... getting to know more about each other." He looked up, a bit troubled and worried about how she might react to his answer.
"We could try..." Lois trailed off and turned away from him.
"Hey!" Clark said walking over to where she was standing and put his hands on her stiff shoulders gently kneading the tension out of them. "Are you... afraid to become close to me? If you are, then I want you to know that I'm afraid too."
"You can't be afraid, Clark. You are a man!" she said, but her tone wasn't sarcastic or biting. It was just a weary statement projecting her vulnerability.
"And being a man makes it impossible for me to feel whatever you feel? Trust me Lois, I'm not your typical male. I'm vulnerable, too, just in a different sort of way," he said softly.
"I know." She turned, looked up at his face and continued, "I don't know why or how, but I know that you aren't like the others. And that's why I couldn't help... doing... whatever happened there in the park. I'm so sorry, Clark."
Clark gave her an embarrassed smile.
"Ah, do you hear me complaining?" He pulled her into his arms. "Lois, I was there, too. And I... kissed you back. I'm as much responsible for what happened there as you are -- probably more."
Lois pulled back and lifted her gaze to his. "That's so... like you, taking your share of responsibility! You see, that is why I lov... like you."
Clark's heart missed a beat as he realized what Lois had almost said -- 'love'! But he decided not to push her. He wanted to take this slowly.
"So, how about dinner tomorrow?" Clark asked, looking deeply into her eyes.
"I'd love that... but don't you think we ought to do something today, to celebrate the beginning of a new relationship?"
"A kiss?" Clark asked hopefully, earning a smack on his shoulder.
"I was thinking along the lines of... a toast..."
She ran into the kitchen, opened the fridge for the champagne bottle and picked up two glasses from the shelf, before rushing out into the living room.
Clark took the bottle and poured the liquid into the glasses and handed one to her. Gently, he bent down to place the bottle on the coffee table and stood up, looking at Lois with an amused expression as if asking her what she wanted to do next.
Lois stepped forward and raised her glass to his. 'Clink!' The glasses chimed as the rims touched.
"To being partners," she said softly.
"And friends," he added.
"And something more," they chorused together, smiling at each other as they celebrated being in love with each other, but calling it 'something more!'
The Christmas season was turning out to be great so far, for them!
THE END
MERRY CHRISTMAS!