Windows to the Soul

Lois hated being transparent. She had always reveled in knowing that no one knew exactly what she was thinking at any given time. She had especially loved making Clark guess all the time. His exasperated looks made her day.

Being a newlywed, therefore, was incredibly frustrating to her.

Sure. The sex was great. Better than great. Super, even. But the looks she kept getting from her co-workers – those knowing, smirking looks whenever she and Clark left for an assignment, like they were going to do something so gauche as stop for a quickie (that one time last week, when their assignment had taken them near their apartment did not count, as far as she was concerned, since they had finished the assignment already and were therefore off assignment), or the giggles when she mentioned to Jimmy how tired she was after an all night stakeout – those looks were driving her insane.

Although not quite as insane as Clark could drive her when he looked at her that way.

Or when he flew in wearing The Suit after some rescue. God, she loved The Suit. Almost as much as the man wearing it. Although she loved him out of it too.

Lois suddenly noticed a hand waving in front of her face. She wasn't sure how long it had been there, but from the smirk on the face controlling the hand, it had been doing so for quite some time.

"Earth to Lois." Clark was grinning at her, his brown eyes sparkling with amusement. His hair was still a little mussed from their trip in the elevator earlier that day, and the knot in his tie was ever so slightly askew. Usually that was a sign that Superman had been called on, but she knew for a fact that he had been there all day. So far. No, she was the cause of that particular mussing.

"Lois. Did you hear a word I said?" Lois' eyes snapped back to Clark and she flushed from her neck to her hairline. Clark now had that smug man-look on his face, the one that he seemed to wear quite a bit now. It didn't usually bother her that much – no doubt she wore the female equivalent herself fairly often, seeing as she had taught him everything he knew, bedroom-wise – today it was irritating.

"What do you want, Clark?" She knew she sounded irritated. She wasn't sure she cared, but she knew.

The smug look disappeared from Clark's face, and a faintly wounded one appeared. Lois felt a twinge of guilt, quickly suppressed. She could make it up to him later. When people had stopped smirking at her.

"Perry gave us the day off. He loved the piece we did on the smuggling ring, and since we had to work all night to get the story, he's ordered us to go home." Clark glanced towards Perry's office, then rolled his eyes. "He winked at me when he said that, too."

"Great. Fabulous." Lois groaned and slumped forward in her chair, resting her head on her crossed arms. She heard the chair next to her desk creak as Clark settled into it, waiting for her to explain what the problem was. He knew better then to ask.

"Have you noticed that everyone keeps looking at us Clark? I mean, not everyone, there's people out on the street that don't know we're newlyweds, but everyone in the office keeps looking at us like we're going to go molest each other in the file room at any moment and it's just embarrassing, and I hate feeling like I'm transparent but I keep getting distracted easily and –"

"Lois. You're babbling again." Clark touched her elbow lightly, rubbing his thumb over her skin. Lois shivered and lifted her head, looking directly at her husband, who was smiling at her tenderly.

"Let's go home. There's this Indian place I've been meaning to try. It smelled great last time I…passed by." Clark grinned and Lois found herself smiling back. She never could stay cranky long, not with Clark around.

Two hours later

"Ooo, I don't think I could eat another bite." Lois collapsed backwards over Clark's lap, groaning indulgently. The Indian place that he had flown to had been beyond fantastic, and she had probably eaten way more than her diet would normally allow. It was worth it, though.

"I'll definitely have to mark that place on the map." Clark grinned at her, referring to the map they kept under the bed with little red x's to mark the locations of their favorite restaurants all over the world. Instead of disturbing her to retrieve the map, however, he threaded his fingers through her hair and began gently massaging her head. Lois thought that this was a far better use of his time. Sighing, she closed her eyes and leaned into his fingers. When she opened her eyes again, he had removed his glasses and was giving her The Look. A tingle shot through Lois from her head to her toes, similar to the feeling she got when Clark used his heat vision, in a weakened form, to warm her up when she complained about being cold at night. This sensation, of course, was based much closer to home.

Reaching up, Lois hooked her hand around Clark's neck, pulling him down to meet her lips in a kiss. As the embrace became more heated, Lois' last coherent though was, Sometimes being a newlywed isn't so bad.

It was her last thought for a long, long time.