Lois and Clark jumped up just in time to see Pete standing outside the tent peering in, with a big grin on his face.
"Ever heard of knocking?" Lois sighed.
"I was having trouble finding the door bell or knocker. I did shout but it seems you did not hear me." Pete announced with a grin on his face.
"We were...just." Clark replied.
"Of course you were." Pete said knowingly. "Anyway I apologise for disturbing you, but Clark, can I have a word with you."
Clark looked at Lois, smiled and then left tent. He and Pete walked down to the lakeside away from prying eyes and ears.
"We have a problem." Pete said in a serious tone. "I think Brad is a risk."
"What do you mean?"
"He started talking again about this alien living on Earth, who lives in Kansas, leading a normal life. What happens if he is on to you."
Clark shook his head. "Pete, I think he would have said something by now. There could be someone else on Earth. I may not be the only one who escaped from Krypton before it was destroyed."
"Do you think so?"
"I don't know but it is lucky I came along on the trip. I think all we can do for the moment is keep a close eye on Brad and his group." Clark explained.
"I can see you are keeping a close eye on someone else. When did all this happen?"
Clark blushed. "Lois has just kissed me after admitting feelings for me. I did not mean to kiss her back but..."
"Clark, she is stunning and I am not just talking looks. There is something about her. Lana has nothing on her." Pete commented.
"Why don't you date her?" he replied.
"I would say she only has eyes for you. Listen, I will let you get back to whatever you were doing. " Pete paused. "But I don't have to ask what it was you were doing, cos the shade of red on your face kinda gives it away."
Clark smiled and walked back to the tent to see what sort of reception he would get. His heart was pounding and his stomach was doing somersaults.
He opened the door to the tent to see Lois fast asleep on the airbed, snoring away. It crossed his mind that she may be pretending so she did not have to confront what had just happened between them.
Lois heard Clark come in the tent, but kept to her plan. As usual at the first sign of becoming involved with someone, her emotions shut down and she put her barriers up. What had started as a plan to of keep Clark's secret safe had allowed the floodgates to open, revealing feelings even she never knew existed.
That kiss had been electrifying, like nothing she had ever experienced. She wondered if he had felt the same, but told herself to forget about it. Clark had been through enough trauma already without complicating his life further by embarking on what would, no doubt, be a futile relationship.
She could hear Clark climbing into his sleeping bag, before tossing and turning before he eventually settled. Lois soon followed him in falling asleep, but then spent most of the night having vivid dreams about Clark being experimented on by aliens.
Her dreams became even weirder when she dreamt about something slithering across her arm. This one felt very real, even more so by the sound of a rattle in her ear. Her eyes opened, confirming her suspicions. She froze, daring not to move.
"Clark..." she said quietly. "Wake up."
He stirred at the sound of her voice and before she could warn him.
"Don't move...there is a rattlesnake in the tent." she whispered, still not moving. Her eyes showing the full extent of her terror.
Without warning, the snake lunged at her. She immediately reacted by the closing her eyes, waiting for contact. It never came.
"You can open your eyes." Clark announced nervously a few seconds later.
She looked at Clark, and then down at the snake, or at least what was left of it. "What the hell?" she replied, looking at the charred remains of the snake.
"I can explain." he exclaimed.
Lois composed herself, and held up her hand signalling for him to stop. "It's ok. It is obvious this is a simple case of spontaneous snake combustion. I have read about 200 cases of humans bursting into flames for no reason, so obviously it can just as easily happen to reptiles too. What were you going to say?"
"The same...thing as you." he gave an unsettled smile and wondered where she had come up with this bizarre idea.
"I think we should get rid of the remains or there will be questions in the morning." he continued, grabbing the snake and leaving the tent.
Minutes later he came back empty handed.
Lois was trembling from her scare. The shock of what had just happened had obviously hit her.
Clark sat down on her airbed next to her, and let her nestle her head into his chest. He hugged her tightly. He said nothing...
Lois held onto him for dear life. She felt secure in his arms, as though nothing could hurt her when she was with him. The snake attack had scared her but she was even more shaken by the extent of what Clark could do. He must have killed it by burning it, but how...
"Can I sleep on your airbed with you?" she asked.
"Of course!" he smiled at her, and lay down next to her. "I told you we would end up spooning." He joked placing his arm over her.
She managed a smile before dropping off to sleep again...
Clark woke up first that morning and realised that he had been spooning Lois most of the night, but at least she had managed to get a night's sleep. This is the first time he had slept with someone, albeit fully clothed, and he liked having someone to snuggle up with.
Lois groaned as she began to stir.
"Good morning, Lois." He said chirply.
"No, it isn't." she pulled herself into a sitting position, constantly massaging her neck. "I have one hell of a crick in my neck. You must have had your arm under my neck all night, did you?"
"Yeah I think so. Do you want me to massage it?"
She sat bolt upright. "I don't think that would be such a good idea after last night." She announced.
"That snake really frightened me."
"Ok, your neck will loosen off after a few hours." He replied.
"I hope so otherwise I am going to look deformed. I can barely move it." She moaned.
"Lois, turn around." He put his hands on her hips and motioned for her to move around so she was sitting in front of him.
She did as he said. He moved her hair out of the way, and placed his hands on her shoulders. He started off with small circles gently massaging her neck. As he got more and more firmer with his fingers, her groans became louder, signally she was enjoying whatever he was doing.
"Is that nice?" he whispered in her ear.
"Mmm….don't stop!" she groaned back, unable to concentrate.
He was focusing on the bare skin in the small of her neck. Without thinking he moved his lips and pressed them gently on the nape. This elicited the loudest moan. He continued to move his lips gently along one of her shoulders, moving her shirt a little to allow him more access to her bare skin.
"God, Clark…who taught you to do this?" she said, as it was all getting too much for her.
She suddenly turned her head, placed her hand around the back of his head, and brought his lips crashing down on hers. The gentleness of the massage strokes had turned into a frenzied assault on his lips.
She had taken him by surprise but now he was matching her kiss for kiss. He moved around so he was kneeling facing her, before plunging his mouth on to hers again. Eventually they pulled apart and just stared at each other in silence for what seemed like an eternity. They did not need to talk, each knew what the other was thinking. Clark moved his hand to the first button on her shirt and started to undo it…
Suddenly, the zip opened without warning.
"We are going to have to get a bell." Lois groaned in disappointment, and became mad when she saw Brad peeking through the canvas.
"Are you two deaf? I told you we had to leave at 7am sharp. Now everyone is going to have to wait for you two to get ready. How inconsiderate can you be?" he tutted and left without giving them a chance to reply.
Lois and Clark looked at one another and knew that whatever was about to happen would have to wait until later.
"Let's go!" Clark said as he helped her out of the tent and then started to dismantle it before quickly shoving it in the bag.
Ten minutes later, they were on the bus.
The bus headed off, and Brad came on the speaker. "Welcome to day 2 of the alien hunt. Now I hope you were not too disappointed with a lack of activity last night. We are now heading towards Ellis where we will be stopping for lunch and then we will be meeting up this afternoon with Ted Higham who is a local farmer who has had numerous alien encounters."
"Sounds thrilling." Lois muttered.
"You're the UFO fanatic…what's with the change of heart." Chloe whispered over the seat once Brad had finished making his announcement.
Lois was determined to deflect the group from discovering Clark's secret. "I think Brad and Rebecca have killed any enthusiasm I had for extra-terrestrial life."
Clark looked at her with a puzzled look. He wondered what had signalled this move from belief to scepticism. After all this was the same woman who believed in Spontaneous Reptilian Combustion as she had named it.
"I must admit, I am the opposite. This trip is right up my alley." Chloe announced excitedly.
Lana and Jason were laughing at this exchange. "Are you enjoying the trip?" Clark asked them.
It was obvious that Jason and Lana were developing some major feelings for each other, going by the way they were looking at each other.
"It's fun!" Lana exclaimed.
Jason turned to Clark. "You have been quiet, Clark. Do you believe in UFO's?"
Clark smiled and was just about to answer, but he did not get a chance before Lois burst in. "Of course he doesn't." she answered for him.
Clark looked at her strangely. "Lois…! No I don't." He announced just to keep the peace with Lois. He hoped he would get some time alone with her later, as he had a few things to discuss with her after the events in the tent.
Lois sat back in her chair, and closed her eyes. She was so tired and her neck was still stiff, despite Clark's best efforts with his hands.
She soon fell asleep and started to have the recurrent nightmare. She could see the look of terror on Clark's face as he lay on the examination table as a large hypodermic needle approached his forehead. She wondered if his amnesia when they met in the cornfield was inflicted on him by the alien torture or whether it was some sort of internal self defense mechanism which blocked out the horrific things he had suffered.
She woke up with a start, to find they had arrived at the café where they were having lunch. She realised part of Clark's problem was the lack of someone to talk to about his experiences. How could he ever deal with them if he kept them bottled up? There was only one way to deal with it – she would have to broach the subject of his abduction with him – but how?
As the bus pulled up, Lois announced to the gang. "I need the ladies room desperately. Clark, can you come with me. Last time I went in one of those, there was a snake in the toilet."
"Why don't you take Chloe?" Clark asked.
"I am not asking you to come in with me. Just wait outside in case I need help."
"Ok.." he said, still puzzled by her need to broadcast such information.
Lois ran and got the key from the shop and they headed around the back of the building. Once out of sight, she pushed him against the wall and kissed him passionately.
When she had finished her assault on him, he looked at her. She had a grin on her face. "So this is why you wanted me to come with you?"
"No it isn't… well it is a bonus. We need to talk." She replied.
"We have enough time for talking later." He announced as he pressed his lips onto hers. "Shall we get out of here?"
She pulled away. "Can you get us out of here?" she asked, wondering if super speed was another of his mementos from his trip on the spaceship.
"Yeah come with me." He said, grabbing her hand. "we could go into the cubicle."
"Oh.." she sounded a little disappointed. "I am not going to make out with you in some grubby toilet. I have more class than that." She laughed. "I just thought."
"You thought what?" he asked puzzled.
"I thought you were going to use your super powers to get us out of here. I know all about the spaceship."
Clark panicked. How did she know about the space-ship in the storm cellar? Pete was the only one who knew and he would not have told her. He decided to act dumb. "What powers?" he asked.
"You're not ready to talk about your abduction yet, are you?" she reassured him. "Clark, all I am trying to do is to protect you from Brad and his gang of alien hunters. If they find out that you were experimented on by aliens, they would dissect you as well."
Clark looked at her. "Lois, have you been drinking?"
"I understand… You do not want to talk about it because it is too traumatic but when you are ready, I am here to listen." She kissed him on the cheek.
Clark was amazed at what he was hearing. She had obviously witnessed him using his powers, and thought he had been kidnapped. How would she feel if she found out he was an alien? He decided not to say anything…yet.
They headed for lunch…
Lois was determined to watch out for Clark, even though he was resisting telling her. She wanted to be close to him, and decided to make a move on him that night in the tent. He would not know what had hit him. She realised her feelings for him were real, and growing stronger by the minute.
"So, what happened?" Lana joked. "Did you see any snakes?"
"No, I think Clark scared them all off." Lois grabbed Clark's arm.
They all laughed.
"So what did you see last night?" Clark asked.
"Not much. Brad is quite hopeful for a sighting tonight?"
"I bet he has never seen an UFO." Lois smirked.
"I have…" Brad interrupted them. "And I believe you have." He added.
Lois glared at him. "What are you talking about?"
Brad started to explain. "I talked to a local farmer about a night last September, when he could have sworn he saw a red truck leaving his field, where there was a suspected UFO sighting. He told me the license plate. I did a little checking and it seems that it was a car hired to you at Metropolis airport."
"Don't be silly. I got run off the road in an electrical storm. I mean ,did the farmer see a spaceship? I certainly didn't." It was not a lie, as all she had found was a naked Clark.
Brad sneered. "No he didn't, but whatever landed did leave a massive crop circle."
"That was where my car crashed. Check the accident report!" she said, glad that the hospital staff never got the chance to inquire where she found Clark.
"I did, and I could not figure out how a car left an imprint in a field, which was fifty times the size of it. The police fell for the excuse, but then again they are used to turning a blind eye to mysterious events in Smallville."
Lois got up. "Don't be so pathetic, Greg. You are determined to see things that aren't there. I now know there is no such thing as an alien."
"You will soon be taking back your words when I introduce you to a real alien." He said with such chilling honesty in his tone.
Clark was worried. "Real alien? Yeah right!" he smirked.
"Maybe you and Ms Lane should get off the bus at the next town. But then again, if you are a non-believers, you may as well stay and look after the tents again tonight. There is not much point in joining us in our hunt." Brad explained.
Lois looked at Clark. "Ok then." She did not mind, as it would give them more time alone to talk, or maybe do other things.
Clark smiled at Lois, but could not get Brad's claims of knowing the whereabouts of a real alien out of his head. He needed to find out more…