A/N: My way to fill in the holes and gaps left by the last five minutes of "Finale".
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Enjoy! :)
"Can you believe what she's gone and done now?" Lois cried out, slamming the door to their office behind her. "That stupid little…" Her face contorted as she struggled to find the right noun.
"Lois—" Clark warned, pointing at the swear jar that sat between their two desks.
"Twit," she finished, dissatisfied. Her face flushed red as she held the latest Daily Planet out to her partner.
"Did Perry move your article to below the fold?" Clark asked cautiously as he took the paper from her. He opened it wide and was relieved to see Lois' story still holding prime real estate.
"Page six," she snapped as she began to pace the length of their office. Clark raised his eyebrows at her obvious frustration and flipped to page six.
"Metropolis reporter Lois Lane was spotted canoodling with Gotham City millionaire Bruce Wayne," Clark read aloud. "Canoodling? Who uses the word canoodling anymore?"
"Cat Grant. That stupid rumour mongering, piece-of-work-hack-of-a-journalist, that's who."
"Ouch," he said, wincing comically. "I didn't think you took Cat's stuff so seriously."
"I don't normally," Lois replied, willing her voice to soften. "But you know how I get when people start writing about me like I'm in some sort of romance novel. I'm sick and tired of her trying to pin me in a relationship with all these playboys."
"You know we could end this once and for all?" Clark raised his eyebrows and pushed his glasses up his nose. "We could finally get that piece of paper we've been putting off for seven years."
Seven years. It had been seven years since their first failed attempt down the aisle before they were unceremoniously stopped by a Darkness-infected Oliver Queen and the impending impact of Apokolips. Since then they'd tried a good six more times to get married.
The first time they'd decided to leave Metropolis altogether and get married in a lovely little villa outside of Rome that Clark had discovered on one of his rescues. It had sounded so promising with a lovely boat tour of the coast, a nightly concert by local opera singers and as many glasses of locally bottled red wine that Lois could consume. It sounded divine. Until they had arrived and discovered that they needed a signature from the American Consul in Italy—who just happened to be on vacation in Greece for a month.
The second time they stayed close to home and booked a chapel off of Bleaker Street. Clark's mother had flown in from Washington, Chloe and Oliver from Star City—it seemed that nothing could go wrong. That was until the Bank of Metropolis was robbed moments before Lois was ready to walk down the aisle. Clark had to feign another one of his infamous milkshake-induced stomachaches in order to delay the minister. After spending an hour suffering through Lois' incessant questions about a bar across the street which was rumoured to be frequented by local mob bosses, the minister called the wedding off and sent the remaining four on their way.
With their third attempt Clark and Lois went straight to City Hall and were intending on having a Justice of the Peace perform a simple ceremony in his office. However, when Lois caught sight of development plans for a casino on the corner Trimore & Carrington lying on the judge's desk, her reporter's instinct took over. When Clark asked what would happen to the orphanage that currently occupied the space, they ended up getting kicked out before vows could be exchanged. On the plus side, it was that investigation and subsequent article that launched Clark up to the 8th floor and ultimately sharing a permanent byline with Lois.
The fourth and fifth times were time travel mishaps. Lois had been cleaning out Clark's box of weird and wacky and accidentally touched the Legion ring sending herself to the future. When the Legionnaires discovered her and sent her back, a few came along for the ride to meet the famous Superman that they'd only heard about in their History lectures. Inadvertently they'd brought back a hybrid sample of black kryptonite which caused Clark to suffer from what could only be described as a personality disorder. When the infected Clark managed to escape the watchful eyes of the Legion, Lois scoured the city only to find him working as a Chippendales dancer. Aside from having to convince Clark that his calling wasn't, in fact, as a stripper named Lorenzo, she had to begrudgingly promise Cat Grant a date with Superman in order to avoid having Clark's photograph showing up on the Gossip pages wearing a bow tie and Speedos.
The sixth time was Lois' fault. She'd been following a lead in Hobb's Bay on the eve of a flight to Las Vegas. They were going to try once again and get married at a small Chapel on the outskirts of the strip. While lurking behind a rusted Chevy, Lois stumbled upon an Intergang gambling ring. Posing as a prostitute, she "borrowed" a black leather miniskirt and infiltrated the club. Soon she managed to find herself in a cloud of cigarette smoke standing next to Bruno Mannheim. She had been doing well for herself, managing to uncover the whereabouts of two elusive grow operations in Metropolis when Superman showed up, putting an end to all conversations and her front page story. She instead wound up spending the night at the police station giving her statement and apologizing to Clark for not telling him about her stakeout. They wound up missing their flight.
Eventually they just gave up trying, succumbing to the rumours that Lois was a commitment-phobe and Clark was too head-over-heels to notice. They even grew into their roles, with Lois publically shrugging off Clark's attempts at chivalry and he muttering "yes, Miss Lane" in a perfected stutter, tripping after her in the newsroom. They even had most of the staff believing that they lived separately, unattached. Half of the time they could hardly believe that people fell for their ridiculous charade, but to their surprise it had successfully diverted attention away from Clark and toward Superman. Since Lois had initially gotten exclusive interviews with Superman for the Daily Planet, it had been important that she not be immediately attached to anyone, lest they begin to speculate and reach truthful conclusions about Clark's dual identity. But seven years and six attempts down the aisle, they were fairly certain people were too busy looking up at Superman and were thankfully ignoring Clark.
"What do you think?" Clark asked with a hesitant smile. "Seventh time's a charm?"
An anxious grin spread across her face. "Do we have time?" She asked concerned that at any moment Watchtower would beckon Clark toward another JLA mission.
Clark paused for a minute, tilting his head to listen to the calls within the city. Lois bit at her bottom lip, her eyebrows rose expectantly. "Well?"
"So far quiet," He rose from his seat. "Do you remember where you put the wedding bands?"
She nodded. "Behind the box of oreos in the top cupboard." Clark narrowed his eyes at her. "What? I wanted to keep them near something else I loved." Lois snapped her fingers, remembering another major detail. "What about a marriage certificate?"
"You're lucky you happen to have a husband who can get there before it closes tonight."
"What about a minister?"
"Well Reverend Johnson at St. Paul's owes Superman a favour. I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping out some of Superman's friends."
Lois grinned. "So that's it then? We're really going to do this?"
"Yeah it looks like it," he said, smiling in return.
Lois rose on the balls of her feet and placed a kiss against Clark's cheek. "I'll meet you back here in an hour then?"
...
"Can it Clark, no one's paying any attention." Lois said, stuffing her displaced notes back into their folders and her something blue bow into her jacket pocket.
"Yes Miss Lane," Clark said huskily, a light grin tugging at his lips.
Lois' heart skipped in her chest. "That's so hot," she blurted out, breathless, before she had a chance to stop herself. Clark would surely tease her about that later. "But listen, this is serious," she deflected, leaning forward. "Do you have them?"
"You mean these?"
Lois sighed, looking down at the matching pair of wedding bands that Clark held out. "Yes!" They were as beautiful as she remembered. She reached for them, wanting another look. Before her fingers could touch the box, Clark snapped it shut. He was such a tease! "You ready?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
"I've been ready for seven years."
"Somebody tell Perry White!" An intern called out from the bullpen. Lois and Clark both rose to their feet, attentive. "Just came over the wire: there's a bomb in an elevator uptown!" The bullpen immediately moved into action, every reporter angling for an opportunity to secure the elusive front page.
Lois looked toward Clark and nodded knowingly as he began to tug at his vest.
"Tell the minister I'm going to be a few minutes late." She nodded in understanding as he rushed past her toward the emergency stairwell. Lois clutched her files to her chest and continued down the stairs, oblivious to those rushing past her. A careful smile grew upon her lips. No matter how many times she watched Clark rush off to Superman duties it always gave her chills.
"Hey Jimmy?"
"Yeah?" Jimmy Olsen glanced up from his desk, a phone propped between his ear and shoulder, a camera around his neck.
"Can you get me Reverend Johnson at St. Paul's on the phone?"
"Sure thing, Miss Lane." he replied turning in his chair toward his computer. "Right away."
Lois looked up at one of the few TV monitors that hung from the ceiling. A swell of pride welled up inside of her as the news showed a flash of red and blue flying into the uptown location of Metropolis Trusts & Loans. Within moments a confident Superman was holding out a defused bomb to the Chief of Police.
So, the seventh time wasn't that charmed. A slight tinge of disappointment ran through her as she watched a concerned Superman check up on the evacuated employees. There was no way Clark would be able to make it back in time. Experience had shown her that the police would want a statement from Superman, plus there was the endless supply of television news reporters certainly all angling for an exclusive interview to run on the six o'clock news.
"Miss Lane?" Jimmy's voice called out. "The Reverend Johnson is on line six for you and Perry's also called down looking for you. He wants you on the bomb story. He used another Great Caesar's Ghost."
Lois shook her head and laughed. Well, she thought to herself. There's always the eighth try.
.:FIN:.