Note: Since you all seemed to like this one, I'll continue with the few chapters I have left. Hope you enjoy!! Thanks much for all your support!!

--

Chapter 2

"Mmmmmm."

Lois Lane's purr of satisfaction filled the silence.

"Good, huh?" Clark inquired with a quirked eyebrow.

They were lying side by side on Clark's bed, turned toward each other, propped up on their elbows. Lois' feet happily dangling off the foot, while Clark's were resting against the headboard.

One hand languidly playing with his tousled mess of hair, Lois sighed her contentment. Her hungry gaze watched every move he made. The steady rise and fall of his sculpted chest. The flutter of his lashes as he focused on the task at hand. The strong hand currently hovering, choosing, discarding. "Clark Kent, you certainly know how to satisfy a girl's needs."

"Well, I can't take full credit. Mom actually made the roast beef." Finally finding what he wanted, he reached onto the platter separating them and grabbed a loose piece of meat.

"But you brought it to me." She opened her mouth for the morsel Clark offered, then spoke around her chewing. "From D.C., no less. That's all that counts."

Brows furrowed as he intent gaze focused back on the platter. "All? Since when?"

"What do you mean?"

"What happened to desires?" Broad shoulders shrugged. "Don't they count for anything anymore?"

"Oh. Well, there are those too."

There was a pause.

A curious gaze snapped upward.

And a prompt.

"And?"

"Oh. And you meet every single one." Lois responded flippantly. Then waited for it.

Clark rolled his eyes. "Well, I should hope so."

"On occasion."

"Ouch." Pretend insult pinched his face. "That was harsh, Lane."

Lois chuckled as her fingers buried deeper in his hair, gently massaging. "Sounds to me like someone's developed an overly-inflated ego that bruises way too easily."

"Well, that's what happens after a few very long hours of consistently positive feedback from one hard-to-please Lois Lane." His smug expression and wiggled eyebrows was enough to spark a streak of mischief in his partner.

"Positive, huh? I see I'm going to have to work on bringing that down a notch." Lois shot back, her hazel eyes dancing with an unstated challenge.

Blue eyes sparkled with unabashed delight as Clark took up the challenge without hesitation. "And I'm going to have to up my performance a notch so you're too speechless to deliver on that plan." He leaned forward, his eyes focused on a pair of lips he hadn't tasted in a full a five minutes.

Those very lips parted to issue a daring, seductive command. "Bring it, baby."

Meeting in the middle, they shared a kiss that was both tantalizingly slow and deeply intense. When Clark's hand slipped around her neck to pull her deeper into him, Lois surrendered without an ounce of fight. Her mind numbed and all she could do was feel. Feel the heat of his fingers against her skin, the insistence of his lips against hers. The sudden flush over her entire body as his tongue continued the sweetest of duels with hers. Her helpless sigh tuned into a moan of protest when Clark abruptly pulled away.

And for a moment, she was speechless. Weak. Breathless. Flushed.

Clark chuckled perceptively against her lips, his light eyes dancing with anticipation of Lois' analysis. "So?"

It took everything in her to ignore her body's instant and intense reaction to that one simple act. To answer his taunting, one-syllable question. Always one to disappoint in the area of assessment, Lois ignored the rapid rise and fall of her chest as she nonchalantly shrugged her erroneous score. "Eh. That was a…five at best."

"Five, my foot." Clark scoffed as he fell back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "That was a frickin' ten." A knowing smile spread at her snicker of agreement.

Never once did he break contact. He cupped her face, running his thumb against her jawline, her lips. Caressing the tiny dent in her chin. His fingers absently raked over her skin. Buried in her hair. Danced across her collarbone then slid back upward to begin again.

Lois wasn't much better. Mirroring his position, her eyes drifted closed in the sweetest sigh of the deepest happiness. Her own fingers explored the arm reached out to her, slipping over taut, bulging muscles and caressing smooth, satin skin. And when her hand found his hair, it wasted no time in getting lost in the thick, raven locks.

They spent a few companionable moment of silence, each soaking in the other's presence. After two weeks of nothing but brief, hurried phone calls, not touching was not an option. After hours of blissfully showing how much they'd missed each other, talking was.

Suddenly, hesitantly, Clark spoke. "Lo?"

"Hmmm?" Eyes closed and savoring each brush of his fingers against her skin, Lois' response was a dreamy sigh.

"About this job offer."

"Yeah?"

"Maybe you should..." He pulled in a breath that made the bed shiver. "…take it."

Lois' feet stopped their happy dance. Her eyes sprang open. She blinked rapidly trying to ascertain if the past five seconds had actually happened. "What?"

As if afraid of her reaction, Clark rushed on ahead trying to get as much out before the explosion came. "I mean…I know how important your job is to you. The last thing I ever want to do is hold you back."

Calm, but growing concerned, she turned her head to look at him. "What about the distance? The time apart?"

"I could visit." His eyes were firmly fixed on the ceiling as if that were the only thing giving him the strength to say the words coming out of his mouth. His entire body was tense. His jaw worked extra hard to keep his voice steady. "You know, it's not like I need a plane to get to you. Who knows?" He swallowed his lie hard. "We might even enjoy the time apart."

Lois' sudden movement dislodged everything, from his hand to the sheets lying in a tangled mess around her. "You want me gone so bad you'd actually stoop to lying?"

"Lo…" Clark turned his head to look at her and immediately regretted it.

The pain in her eyes was palpable. Rising irritation edged the pain and expanded, pushing the injury to the background. He was grateful she was wearing his old football jersey or he would have gone down with out a struggle.

And he needed to struggle. Because this…this was too important not to fight for.

Sighing, Clark pushed himself up, propped on his elbows, and turned to her. "Lois, look. You've worked really hard to get where you are. The fact Tess wants to give you this chance just proves that. It's time for the world to know what we in Metropolis already do." His voice lowered with pride. "You're the best, Lois Lane. And you can't turn this opportunity down. You just can't."

Heaving a sigh of frustration, Lois paused long enough to push her hair back behind her ears in an effort to calm her rising emotions. "Look, Clark, I appreciate what you're trying to do here, I really, really do. More than I can say. But…" She shook her head emphatically. "…no."

"Lois…"

"Did you not hear me earlier? This isn't about my career right now. It's about me…and us." She reached out to touch his hand, covering it with her own. Her expression softened along with her voice. "We're in a really, really good place right now, Clark, and I have never been happier."

His smile was slow and sweet. His eyes darkened with love. "Me either."

"I don't want that to change."

"Neither do I. Look…" Pulling in a deep breath, Clark sat up and shifted till they were facing each other. Knees touching. Eyes locked. "…I just think it's a mistake to not at least think about it. You can't base every decision on us right now."

"Why not? Us is the most important thing in my life."

"You feel that way because we've been apart for so long."

"I feel that way because it is that way."

"But…"

"Look, I know we haven't talked about this and I may be jinxing things by even bringing it up, but Clark, what if we…" Lois stopped, her bottom lip slipping between her teeth. Clearly contemplating the wisdom of continuing, she finally decided. She nervously cleared her throat. "…last long enough to take this to the next step. What if we make this partnership permanent and eventually even…I don't know…"

"Get married?" Clark finished for her, surprised she would be the one to broach the subject first. But since she had, he took it one step further. "Have a family?"

Eyes narrowed, she tried to gauge his reaction to the whole idea. It being the first time they'd really talked about it and all, she wasn't quite sure where he stood on the subject. Though she had a sneaking suspicion. "Well…yeah."

He didn't leave her guessing for long. "Why do you think I want you to do this now? While you still have the chance?"

"What?"

Now that the issue was on the floor, Clark seemed more than eager to address it. With quite a few assumptions already built in to his argument. "Well, think about it. Marriage to me isn't going to be easy. And you know, I don't even know if we can have kids, but if we can, there's no guarantee they'll be…normal. Life as my wife is going to take a lot of energy, and patience. Then, of course, there are my extra-curricular activities. Who knows when I'll be called off to do God knows what. So, you can pretty much forget about spontaneous, extended trips to exotic regions of the world."

"Wow. You make marriage sound so attractive." She quipped, not quite sure how she felt about Clark's description of their not yet realized future life together.

"Ok, wait. I'm saying this all wrong." Clark reached over and gathered her hands in his. "My point, Lois, is that I don't want you to have regrets ten, fifteen, twenty years from now. And I really don't want you to feel like you missed out on experiences you could've had because of me. Because I was standing in your way. I never, ever want to hold you back. That's why…before we do make this permanent, I want you to get everything you can out of life. And to live it the way you want." A hint of regret slipped into his eyes. "Because after we're married, there's precious little I can guarantee."

"You have thought about this." Lois whispered. "A lot."

"Lois…" It was Clark's turn to bite his lip. Uncharacteristically so, which caused Lois' insides to tense with anticipation. He was gauging her expression, trying to see if they were in the same place. If they had the same dreams. One look past the hesitancy in her eyes and he knew.

"Look, this is so not how I'd planned on doing this, but…" Clark sighed then moved to the nightstand by his bed.

Panic seized Lois. "Wait, wait. What? Doing what? Clark what are you doing?" When he turned back to her with a velvet box in his hand, Lois immediately began shaking her head. A wagging finger in the air joined. "Oh, no, you don't. Don't you dare propose to me over a platter of half-eaten roast beef."

"Ok." Taking that as her momentary answer, Clark shrugged then turned back to the still opened nightstand drawer.

"Wait." Pulling back on his arm, Lois abruptly halted his progress. He turned to her, his eyes a mixture of amusement and uncertainty.

And for a few minutes in Clark Kent's life, he wondered if he, in fact, was the alien with super speed.

A whirlwind called Lois blew through the room at breakneck speed. When the dust settled, significant changes had been made. The platter had been whisked off the bed. Candles had been replaced and lit. Her long chestnut hair had been freshly brushed. And though not chosen, the haphazardly discarded slips of lingerie made it clear a change of attire had been part of the plan.

Lois plopped onto the bed in front of him, flipped her hair behind her shoulders, blew out a short breath and gave him the go ahead nod. "Alright. I'm ready."

Knowing, at a moment like this, it would be the death of him, he quelled the rumble of laughter building inside. If he had even a hint of doubt about her answer before…

An eyebrow quirked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Because I can wait."

"I can't." Lois' breathless response was enough.

"I lied." His lips tilted in a knowing smile. "When I said two weeks…it was more like two days. I've loved you for a long time. Longer than I ever realized. Not being able to live without you, well…that's a whole other thing altogether. But I can't. What's more…I don't want to. My life…everything I am, everything I can do…you make it all make sense. Even more, you make it all worth it. No one has ever made me feel this special, and normal, all at the same time." The seriousness of the moment required honesty. "It won't be easy. And there will be danger. I can't promise there won't be hard times or a perfect life. But I can promise you a perfect love." He pulled in a ragged breath. "Lois Lane, will you marry me?"

He could hear shuddering breath, the thundering of her heart. Watched her chest hitch and her tears invade her eyes. Suddenly, Clark realized he'd known her answer long before the question ever came to mind.

There was a pause, then…

"I don't know." Face scrunched in uncertainty, Lois' hand fluttered in the air. "The speech was a…B minus, I guess." Her gaze dropped to the unopened box in his hand. "Let me see the ring."

A dark eyebrow rose. He bit back a grin. "I take it that's a deal breaker?"

"Absolutely." She answered without hesitation. "And, by the way, Kent, the bigger the better."

Clark chuckled. "Trust me, if there's anything I've learned with you, it's that."

Lois held out her hand. "Ring."

Clark pulled it out of reach. "On one condition."

"What's that?"

"You take the assignment."

"Clark."

"I mean it, Lois." The determination in his eyes was not to be broken.

Surprised, her head tilted to the side. "You're really going to withhold an engagement ring from me because of this assignment."

"Absolutely." Clark responded with a confident nod of his head. "You need to do this. And even though you don't have the sense right now to choose yourself…I do. So, I am." A grin began as her words from earlier found their way back to them. "I'm choosing you, Lois Lane." He winked at her. "Above everything else."

A slow smile spread. Tears shimmered in her eyes. "Well, when you put it that way…" She nodded. "Alright. I'll submit to your torture." She held out her hand once more. "Now, hand over the ring."

Clark handed it to her, his own anticipation building. He watched as she slowly opened the top. Her mouth dropped open, speechless. "So?"

The sparkle in her eyes, the hitch of her chest was answer enough. Clark was just beginning to pat himself on the back when…

"Eh, it's…passable. Barely." Lois responded flippantly as her gaze snapped upward to catch his reaction. She bit back a chuckle.

"Oh. Ok. Well, in that case..." Seemingly unfazed, he took back the box, snapped it shut and turned to toss it in the nightstand.

Her hands collapsed over his, arresting his movements. Their eyes met. Her face flushed. His heart stopped.

"I lied too. I said one week. It was more like one day." She leaned forward, her lips offering a truce. And a challenge. "Told you I love you more."

Clark mirrored her actions. Meeting her halfway. Not yet touching. "Is that a yes?"

"Do you really need to hear it?"

"It's kinda in the rule book for potential fiancés."

"Ok."

"Ok? As in ok you'll answer or ok you'll marry me?"

"Ok, as in…you're a smart boy." In direct contrast to her words, Lois held out her hand as her accepting grin widened. She sent him a playful wink. "You figure it out."

Tbc…