By Kaytee Shultz (ILive4Dean@aol.com)
Summary: Lois and Clark prepare for a wedding in Smallville. A sequel to the fanfic "Waterfalls."
Note: This is a wedding story, and being only fourteen and never married, there are bound to be some mistakes. Please, oh please, forgive me! I'd like to say thank you to Meredith for letting me bounce my strange ideas off her, Hi! to Darryl, and extra ~special~ hello to Kevin. Comments are welcomed at ILive4Dean@aol.com! Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
***
The setting is late June
"Clark!" Lois Lane wailed as she stepped off the elevator and onto the ramp leading into the pit of the newsroom of the Daily Planet. "How could you even think something like that, let alone *tell* me about it?!"
"What? All I said is that it might slightly rain in Smallville next weekend. Accent on 'might', Lois." Clark Kent said calmly.
"That's all I need, worrying about it raining on my wedding! My nerves are shot as it is, Clark!" the small brunette said.
"Oh, so you're getting married all by yourself, is that it?" he grinned as she sat, no, *flopped* down into his chair.
"You know, you are really annoying sometimes. Fine, farm boy. I don't need to worry about it raining on *our* wedding!"
She used to call him 'farm boy' with disdain, frowning on Smallville, Kansas where he grew up. But now she called him her farm boy just as lovingly as if she were calling him 'sweetheart', loving Smallville and Smallville loving her.
"Hon, if it rains, it rains. Smallville has been rained on at tractor pulls, barn raisings, you name it, it's rained. Nobody is going to melt. Besides, it's only supposed to sprinkle." he reassured her.
"Ah ha! So it *is* supposed to rain!" she accused, and raised her fingertips to her temple. "Please God, don't rain on my parade!"
Clark couldn't help but laugh, but quickly stifled it when she looked up at him. A human would have melted under her glare. Clark grinned back.
She sighed. "Well, it's too late to change everything now, isn't it?"
He nodded, glancing at his watch. "Hey, don't you have to go get the last fittings on your dress?"
She jumped up and looked at his watch, and said in a panic, "I'm going to be late! How could I have forgotten? Can you call the bridal shop and tell them I'll be there in a few minutes?"
"Sure." he said.
She kissed him briefly on the lips, said, "What would I do without you? I'll see you later. Bye!"
After hanging up the phone, he sat down wearily in his chair. Lois wasn't the only one whose nerves were jangled. His just weren't as much. It was Monday, and they were leaving for Smallville tomorrow, where they were going to get ready for their wedding on Saturday on the Kent's farm.
Perry and Jimmy and all their friends at the Planet were going to drive down on Friday morning and get there late that evening, just in time for the wedding. They had decided on Smallville because the whole town would never forgive them if they didn't see their hometown boy marry the city girl he'd always dreamed of. It was going to be a huge event in the small town, and almost everybody was going to be there.
That's why they'd chosen an outdoor wedding, and reception, on the Kent's farm. Everything was going to be outside. Even their honeymoon.
They were going to go to a little camp ground, about a hundred miles out of Smallville, where the waterfall there was as beautiful as the memories they shared from their trip there before. It was where they had played in the water, then talked through the difficulties between them concerning his dual identity. Lois had said she'd marry him there, and then they'd made love on the river bank in the moonlight with the waterfall crashing behind them.
Clark was startled out of his reverie by a young man calling his name. Looking up, he saw that Jimmy Olsen was banging on the copy machine and calling for Clark to help.
Clark got up and went over, and plugged it in, and patted the embarrassed Jimmy on the shoulder. "Check and see if it's plugged in next time." he grinned.
"Uh, thanks, CK. So, can you wait till Saturday? I can't. The only time I've been to Smallville, I didn't have time to see the sights, or your house."
"Not only am I going to get married, I get to eat my mother's fried chicken!" he laughed.
"Oooh, now that I have to try!" Jimmy said, rubbing his stomach hungrily.
Behind them, Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, said, "Now, son, why don't you go on home and get packed? You're not going to get much work done the rest of the day, anyway."
"Thanks, Perry." he said. Before he left, he confirmed all the plans for the trip everybody invited at the Daily Planet was going to take down there.
"We'll get there, we'll get there! Don't worry about it! Now, get going! And say goodbye to Lois for me. Next time I see my little girl, she'll be a married woman." Perry said, walking off towards his office.
Perry considered Lois and Clark and Jimmy his 'children'. The four of them were a tight knit group, two of the members tighter than others.
When Perry had realized awhile back that Lois and Clark were in the first stages of love, he had worried about their professional relationship. These were his top two reporters, for heaven's sake! If things went wrong between them, his newsroom was shot to hell!
But things progressed, rather slowly, especially with the complication of a weird man with a dopey grin who showered Lois with odd mobiles. But things *did* progress. Clark had proposed to Lois without anyone knowing and she had given him a maybe answer. When they'd gone on that little camping trip of theirs (Lord knows how Clark managed to get Lois to live without a laptop computer for a few days) he hadn't expected Lois to come back with a rock on her finger and a happy glow around the two of them.
He knew that Lois would always look out for people trying to corrupt her naive farm boy, and Clark would always protect his city girl from the bad guys of the world (whether she liked it or not). Perry knew without a doubt it was Lois and Clark against the world. And the world had better watch out.
In his office, he saw Clark through the window turning off his computer and walking up to the elevator, leaving.
Perry knew his little girl, who would strongly resent being called that, had never been in better hands.
***
Clark stuck his key in the lock and turned, opening the door to his apartment. Everything was in boxes, the way Lois' had been. Now her apartment was empty and the keys were turned in to her landlord, and everything was settled on *that* apartment. Now all he had to do was finish *this* apartment, and drop the keys off, having already done the paperwork with the landlord.
They had found a larger apartment close to the Daily Planet, with two bedrooms. One would be theirs, naturally, and one would be a den large enough for two desks, a TV, and an arm chair. Both knew it wouldn't be a den for long.
The new apartment already had their furniture in it. Lois had refused to put her designer furniture in storage in favor of Clark's "frumpy brown couch and those matching arm chairs". After moving them, he had agreed with her. But one of his arm chairs ended up in the den.
Clark had been moving things to the new apartment whenever he had free time. He had moved everything but the few boxes there, and except for the kitchen, which he was going to tackle tonight. He wanted the apartment to be ready for her when they got back from their honeymoon. It was almost completely finished, he just had to put the finishing touches on it before they left. He had barred her from seeing it for the last few weeks while he set things up, put things in the right place, put up curtains, things like that. It was going to be perfect.
He changed into his Superman suit, and lifted the last few boxes. Some of the people had seen him taking a huge amount of stuff into the apartment, and asked about it. "Oh, I'm close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and this is my wedding present to them."
They had bought that, and let Superman do his thing.
Clark left a note on the door for Lois, and left.
***
Lois walked up and pulled the taped piece of paper off the door. "L — I'm at the apartment. DO NOT come over, I'm almost finished. I won't be able to see you until tomorrow morning, when I come to pick you up to go to Smallville. I love you — C." she read aloud, then sighed heavily. She'd wanted to gush about how beautiful her dress was going to be, but then she thought, Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Let him be surprised.
She checked into a hotel for the night, they'd planned this, because her bed was in storage and his was in the new apartment.
She sat on the couch, and pulled out her checklist. Going through her bags, she checked things off and yelled "YES!!" at the top of her lungs when everything she needed was there, most importantly her hair drier and makeup case.
Packing everything again and leaving out something to wear in the morning, she stripped off and walked into the bathroom, and took a hot shower, thinking about Saturday, and the rest of her life.
Saturday was going to be hectic. She was sure of it. But it was also going to be the happiest day of her life. She'd never been so sure of anything in her life. Sure, she had her nervous twinges of "are we doing the right thing" and "are we rushing into this" variety, but Clark always quieted them without realizing it when she was in his arms.
Thinking of "his arms", she felt shivers run up and down her spine. She remembered vividly the last time she'd been in "his arms", and sighed, thinking how much she wanted to be wherever he was right now.
***
Clark sighed, his unpacking had been interrupted by a car thief, a mugging, and a cat stuck in a tree, thinking he would never finish. Hours later, he was. After he had taken all the boxes and trash and such to the dumpster in back of the building, he realized how tired he was. The next few days were going to be even more tension filled than the last few.
Sinking down into his familiar bed in somewhat unfamiliar surroundings, he thought of what Lois was doing. Opening his Super-senses, he searched the city until he heard her familiar heartbeat, heard her soft breathing, concentrated on her being and locked everything else out.
As he laid awake listening to the woman he loved sleep halfway across the city, he remembered a few nights before, when she had gotten back from being in Gotham for a week on a story. She'd come to his apartment as soon as she'd gotten back to Metropolis, which had been three in the morning. Clark smiled in the darkness as he remembered how she'd expressed to him just how much she'd missed him.
He fell asleep thinking how much he loved her.
***
Clark woke the next morning with the sound of Lois' heartbeat loud in his ear. Her heart was pounding, and he wondered what it was she was doing that raised her heartbeat to such a degree that it woke him up.
He looked at his watch and saw it was a good idea to get up because he was supposed to pick Lois up in ten minutes and start driving to Smallville. He wanted to drive instead of fly because her minivan could hold all the stuff they'd brought, both for the wedding and the honeymoon. He brought the sleeping bag they would share, like the time before.
They were going to stop at the bridal shop to pick up Lois' dress before they left Metropolis, because Lois didn't trust anybody to get it to Smallville on time.
Clark got up and got dressed as Superman, and picked up his two suitcases and a hanger with his tuxedo in a bag on it. and sleeping bag, and flew to the hotel Lois was in.
Before he went up, he unlocked the truck of her minivan with one of the keys she'd given him and started packing his things in it, leaving enough room for his tux to lay on the floor, and when they picked up her dress it would lie on top of it.
When he pocketed his keys, he remembered when she'd given him the keys to her apartment and car. She'd pressed them into his hand, and he had asked, "What's this?"
She had answered with a grin, "Well, I could be corny and say they're the keys to my heart, but in reality they're just the keys to my apartment and car."
He smiled as he remembered that, and opened the door to the room she was staying in (he'd checked at the desk). She hadn't heard him because the radio was blaring, and she was coming out of the bathroom with large rollers resting against her temples. She had the hanger with the outfit she was going to wear in her hand, wearing only white cotton underwear and a lacy white bra. He smiled, and she almost choked on her shriek when she saw him, dropping the hanger which he snagged before her clothes hit the floor.
She hit his arm, and said, sitting down on the bed to calm herself, "Damn it, Clark! You scared me!"
"I'm sorry. I should have knocked." he said, sitting down beside her and handing her the dress she was going to wear. It was the dress she'd bought the first time she'd visited Smallville. "But the sight is worth the anger."
She had to smile. She could never stay mad at her farm boy for very long. "Yeah, well, anyway. I'm sorry I'm not ready yet, I just woke up a little while ago and panicked at how late it was."
"Oh, so that was it." he said as she stood and slid the dress over her head and sat down again to strap on her brown leather sandals.
"What do you mean?" she asked as she brought the other foot up.
"Well, I had gone to sleep last night concentrating on you and listening to your heartbeat, and this morning your heart was pounding rather loudly, waking me up. I would still be asleep had you not gotten "panicked"." he told her.
Her heart warmed. He fell asleep listening to my heart, she thought. What a guy.
"Listen, since we're running late, why don't you go pick up my dress and I'll be done when you get back? Oh, but you'd better put my bags in the back. Leave room for my dress. Don't peek at it, either!" she said, walking back to the bathroom with her makeup case, pulling the rollers from her hair.
Clark looked at all the bags. Seven, not counting her makeup bag. He knew better than to argue, though, and started taking them downstairs.
When he'd rearranged all the bags so that there'd still be room for the dress and the tux, he drove to the bridal shop and got the dress. He was tempted to peek, but Lois' voice rang through his head when he slid his glasses down his nose.
When he pulled into the parking lot, Lois was sitting on the curb with her makeup bag and her purse. She jumped into the passenger side, and they took off towards Smallville.
Lois checked her watch, and said, "We're only twenty-three minutes behind schedule. You didn't peek at the dress, did you? Did the woman say the veil was in the bag?"
"Yep. So, are you excited about your mother flying in from Europe?" he asked her.
"Yes! I haven't seen her since…well, never mind when, but I haven't seen her in a long time. Lucy's going to come with Perry and them. My cousin, my aunt, and my uncle are also going to be there. I can't wait to see them!" she explained, practically bouncing in the seat.
"Speaking of your family…"
"Uh oh, here it comes." she said under her breath.
"Did you invite your father?" Clark asked.
"Of course I did. He said he couldn't come, he had some important business to do. I don't mind, Clark. Really."
***
Hours later, when they arrived at the Kent's farm and after they had dinner, Martha sent Clark outside with Jonathan so that she could have her future daughter-in-law to herself. Lois showed her the dress, and Martha almost cried.
Later, Lois asked Martha if she could see any baby pictures of Clark.
"Oh, honey, I thought you'd never ask! I've got albums upon albums of baby pictures!" Martha exclaimed, smiling.
Lois and Martha sat on the couch with an old album across their laps. As they flipped through the pages, Lois alternately "awwed" and laughed.
She turned the page, and burst out laughing. It was a picture of Clark when he was a baby. He was stark naked and on his stomach, sucking on his thumb.
"So…can you wait till Saturday?" Jonathan asked his son. To Clark it seemed like everybody was asking that. They were out on the porch, drinking coffee. It was dusky, the sun having just gone down.
"Nope. Sometimes I think it's a dream. I mean, I waited for so long for her to see past the costume, to get over her infatuation with Superman, that sometimes I can't believe she's in love with me, that we're really getting married on Saturday." he said, taking a drink from his cup.
"She is something special." Jonathan commented.
The door creaked open, and Lois came out. "Clark? I thought I heard you out here. Can I join you, or is this like a father-son-bonding thing?"
Clark smiled, and his father said, "Not at all. You can join us. Is Martha coming out?"
"Yeah, she's just getting herself some coffee." Lois said.
Clark was sitting in one of the three porch chairs, and instead of taking the last remaining chair and making Martha sit on the steps or stand, she sat on Clark's lap.
"Don't you want some coffee, Lois?" Martha asked as she came outside and sat down by her husband.
"No." she smiled. "I'll just share Clark's."
Clark grinned, one arm wrapped around the back of her waist, and the other rested across her thighs since she was sitting sideways.
Martha and Jonathan shared a pleased look at their apparent closeness. Lois was wriggling around in his arms because one of his hands was resting on her ribs, and every time she raised the cup to her lips to take a drink, he'd tickle her.
"Clark, quit it! Martha, make him stop! Aieee!" Lois giggled, slapping his chest with a thump and letting her hand rest there.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop. What were you two doing in there? I heard you laughing." Clark asked.
Lois looked at Martha and both women laughed. "We were looking at…"she paused dramatically, "your baby pictures!"
"He had a cute little tush." Martha grinned.
"Martha!" Jonathan exclaimed, not without a grin of his own.
Lois smiled wickedly. "He still does."
Clark looked like he was about to die. "Lois!"
"What? I just call it like I see it!" she said, leaning her head down and kissing him lightly on the tip of his nose.
Martha and Jonathan were about to fall out of their chairs, they were laughing so hard. Lois looked down at him, and saw that his cheeks were tinted red. "You're blushing!"
"What is this, Pick on Clark Day?" he asked.
She patted his chest. "Oh, don't grumble, farm boy. It doesn't suit you."
Martha laughed, "What's this 'farm boy'?"
"He's my farm boy, aren't ya, Clarkie? Aren't ya? Huh?" she teased, tickling him.
"What did this farm boy ever do to you?" Clark asked.
Lois' eyebrows shot up, and her mouth opened. He clamped his hand over it, and said as her eyes narrowed, "On second thought, don't answer that."
***
The next few days went by like a snail, each slower than the last. She woke on Friday, and knew Martha had sent Clark to his Uncle Darryl's farm for the night. She was excited, knowing everybody had either arrived or was going to today.
She went downstairs, had breakfast with his parents, and then just sat on the couch, watching television.
There was absolutely nothing to do for her but sit and wait and be a bundle of nerves. All the plans were finished, and she felt like the day just loomed ahead of her with no end.
Martha passed by the living room, and saw that Lois was curled up on the couch with Clark's pillow, watching television. Martha didn't know what to have her do, because she knew for Lois this day would be unbearably long.
"Lois? Why don't you go shopping?"
Lois seemed to think this over. "Okay, I think I will."
She got up, found her purse, and drove into town.
She stopped and parked at the beginning of Smallville's main street, where all the tourists shops were. She walked into the first shop, looking at the rack of dresses.
"Lois, Hon, is that you?"
Lois turned, and saw a woman she didn't recognize stand before her.
"Uh, do I know you?" Lois ventured tentatively with a smile.
"Oh, no. I just pegged you as the famous Lois Lane because I know everybody in this town, but I've never seen you before. I bet this day's going on a little long, isn't it?" she smiled sympathetically.
"Sometimes I think time is standing still. Anyway, you seem to know who I am…"
The woman took the hint. "I'm Meredith Baum, but everyone 'round here calls me Mer."
"It was certainly nice meeting you. Are you coming tomorrow?"
"You betcha. I've got to skidaddle, now. See ya!"
Lois met a well-wisher in every store she went to. When she had finished with all the stores, she headed back to the farm. It was only three-forty-five! She still had hours to go!
***
Clark looked down at his watch. Only three-forty- five! He never realized how slow time could pass before. Uncle Darryl had kept him fairly busy, talking a blue streak about his job(s) back in Maine, where he used to live. He was a political cartoonist and some sort of shirt printer for companies like LL Bean. He also did weird things like drive by Stephen King's house to scope out the *nice looking* cars, and win trips to Disneyland from his strange sweepstaking hobby, and often forgetting to write to his cute little redheaded penpal, a gifted and lucky girl named Katherine, who was just as strange as he, her main worry in life being her stories and some television hunk. Clark wasn't really paying attention to him, his mind on Lois and tomorrow, but he nodded and said "uh huh" and "that's interesting" in the right places, and poor Uncle Darryl never caught on.
Clark decided to go inside and watch television. Maybe that soap opera Lois watched, Ivory something, was on.
***
Lois sat in front of the television, watching her favorite soap opera, Ivory Tower. It actually took her mind off things, at least for an hour.
Hours crawled by, she had dinner, talked with Martha, then, finally, it was time to go to bed. She went upstairs, got into one of his old t-shirts, and slid under the covers Clark used when growing up.
She didn't expect to fall asleep, but the waiting and the nerves and the overall anxiousness had worn her out. She also didn't want bags under her eyes.
***
Saturday morning, Lois woke with an excited feeling in her stomach, without bothering to do anything but throw on a robe because she was going to start getting ready as soon as breakfast was over and some women who were coming to help started showing up.
Lois had a bowl of cereal that Martha made her eat, even though she didn't think she could handle it.
After breakfast, Lois' mother and sister showed up, and after introducing everybody, Lois, Martha, Lucy, and her mother went upstairs, posting Jonathan at the door to traffic the women who were going to start showing up anytime soon.
Lois sat at an old vanity, her wet hair being blow dried by her mother. Lucy started a manicure, soaking Lois's hands in warm soapy water. Martha was just about to start on her makeup when a voice called from the door, "Oh, Mrs. Kent, let me, please?"
Lois turned her head and saw Cat Grant coming toward her. "Hi, Lois. Didn't think I'd make it, did you? Let me do your makeup. I'm a whiz."
Cat Grant and Lois Lane were not exactly the best of friends. Lois found Cat's clothes and behavior outrageous, and Cat couldn't imagine how Lois could stand wearing such conservative clothes. But since Cat had been sent to the overseas Daily Planet office, Lois and Cat found that absence did indeed make the heart grow fonder. They could stand each other, if in small doses.
Lois introduced Cat to everybody, and Mrs. Kent said, "Her face is in your hands."
"Oh boy." Lois said, and Cat grinned.
"Don't worry, Lois. I used to work at a department store makeup counter. I know what I'm doing, okay? My look doesn't work for everybody." Cat grinned, sorting through Lois' makeup, and opening a case of her own.
***
Jimmy Olsen ran into the room Clark was getting ready in. He was straightening his bow tie, thinking Lois would be able to get it straight in a heartbeat. He was almost ready. Checking his watch, he saw he only had two hours to go.
"Hey, CK!"
"Hi, Jimmy! Everyone get here all right?" Clark asked.
Jimmy was especially excited, because he was going to be the best man.
"Oh, yeah. All the women are heading for your parent's, to help Lois get ready. Perry and Stan and them are all downstairs.
"I'll be ready in a minute. Did it look to you like it was going to rain?" Clark asked.
Jimmy looked kind of uncomfortable. "Well…
***
"There were a couple of clouds in the sky, but nothing you should worry about." Lucy said, starting on the left hand and not looking into Lois' face, uncomfortable.
Lois sat there while four different people worked on her, and a steady stream of women entered the room and then left to go sit outside, where there were tables and chairs being set up, the caterers bustling about, and the band that was going to play the wedding song and do the reception was setting up.
When it was time to put the dress on, Lois did so carefully. The dress was beautiful, and the women fawned over it, Cat included.
Lois' mom fixed the veil on her head, pulling it back over her head instead of over Lois' face.
Lois stood in front of a full length mirror, and gasped when she saw her reflection. Clark wouldn't know what hit him.
Suddenly she cried out, "Oh my God!"
"Lois, what's wrong?"
Lois was panicking. "What's that saying? "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue"! I forgot!"
Her mother laughed, and said, "Not to worry. The "something old" are these." she said, opening a little black box from her purse. Inside were very old, and very beautiful pearl drop earrings.
"These were your great-grandmother's earrings, which she wore on her wedding day. She passed them down to her daughter on her wedding day, and then she on to my mother on her wedding day, and then on to me when I married your father. I hope your marriage works out better than ours did." she said, taking them out and putting them in her daughter's ears.
Lois tried her hardest not to cry, for fear it would ruin the excellent makeup job Cat had done. "Why didn't you give me these when I almost married Lex?"
"Because Lex wasn't worth them. Clark Kent is." Lois' mother said, touching her face gently.
"Thank you, Mom."
Martha gave Lois a bottle of perfume, something that smelled of vanilla and was very sweet and appropriate. "This is the "something new"."
"Oh, Martha, thank you! It's smells wonderful." Lois said.
Lucy said, "I have the "something borrowed", and I mean it when I say "borrowed", Lois. I want this back." She clasped a pearl bracelet around Lois' wrist, and Lois saw that it was the bracelet she'd gotten from their father on graduation. She looked fondly at her little sister, saying, "Thank you."
Cat was last, with the "something blue". It was a blue garter, and Cat grinned when she handed it to her.
"Figures." Lois said, but squeezed the woman's long- clawed, ah, nailed hand in an unusual show of affection and slid it on, knowing that in just a little while, Clark would be slipping it off and throwing it to a crowd of men.
There came a knock at the door, and someone said, "Ten minutes."
Lois went to the door, and opened it, peeking just her head around. "Jimmy! Is Clark here?"
"Yeah, he's waiting at the alter, talking to his father. Lois, you will not believe how many people are here!"
"Is Perry down there?" Lois asked.
"Yeah, do you want me to get him?" Jimmy asked.
"Tell him I'm coming down now."
Jimmy rushed off, and Lois turned back to the four women. "Well…here goes."
Lucy had gotten into her matching dress, and they headed downstairs, Lois last. Perry looked up, and almost fainted at the sight of her. "Lois…"
"Perry, are you ready to give me away?" she asked, smiling.
"No, but I'm going to have to, aren't I?" Perry asked in a fatherly fashion. Perry couldn't be more her father had he sired her himself, and they both knew it. That's why she'd asked him to give her away, even if her real father had come.
Lois took his arm, the flower girl and the ring bearer just starting down the aisle, with Lucy and Jimmy close behind. They were his cousin's children, and they were twins. They were almost too perfect.
Someone handed her her bouquet of daisies and baby's breath and different types she didn't want to concentrate on right now. She and Perry were up next.
The music changed, announcing the bride. People, what looked like the entire town and then some, turned and upon sight of her gasped at her beauty.
The dress was white, the sleeves poofy at the shoulders then tight to the wrist. Her bodice had tiny faux- pearl beads on it, and a white satin cord tied the front. The skirt was full and flowing, made of layers of a gauze-like material. The train trailed behind her for fifteen feet.
Her hair had been twisted into an upsweep style, French-twist like in back but with curls on top where the twist would have been open. The veil was connected to a few flowers like the ones in her bouquet, and was pulled back over her head instead of in her face.
Clark about collapsed when he saw her, thinking her the most beautiful creature God put on this Earth.
Lois and Perry made their way slowly to the alter made of the same variety of flowers wound into a wicker frame. Unlike last time, Lois was thinking of no other man other than Clark, and how much she loved him.
When Perry got her to the alter, he sat down in the chair in the first row that had been reserved for the "father" of the bride.
Clark took her hand, and stepped up to the preacher Clark had known all his life. The old man had even baptized him.
The ceremony went smoothly. When the preacher asked Lois, "Do you, Lois Lane, take this man, Clark Kent, to be your lawful wedded husband?"
There was no doubt in her voice when she looked up with eyes full of love and unshed tears at Clark and said, "I do."
"Do you, Clark Kent, take this woman, Lois Lane, to be your lawful wedded wife?"
Clark looked down into the eyes of the only person he'd ever loved or wanted this much. "I do."
Just then, the clouds Lucy and Jimmy said not to worry about broke, and lightly sprinkled rain onto their wedding. Lois didn't care. While most might take this as a bad omen, Lois and Clark took it as a great sign. He'd asked her to marry him in the rain, she'd told him she'd marry him when they were soaked from the river, and so it seemed only fitting they be married wet.
Cat, who sat next to Perry, said, "Chief? Are you crying?"
"No! It's…it's just the rain, that's all."
The preacher, who had paused when a raindrop fell on his nose, smiled and said, "You may kiss the bride!"
Lois Kent tilted her head back, sliding her arms around his neck. Clark's arms slipped around her waist, and pulled her to him.
He bent his head to hers, and kissed his wife in the falling summer rain.
THE END
… or The Beginning?
(inthefa1.txt)