ღ Part 3: Party Delight ღ

Looking back, we should have been able to see what was wrong but I guess when one has been dropped right in it one is bound to miss the obvious. Dinah and I came up with a plan, far from foolproof or even very good, but it was what we could do being bitterly cold and well...desperate.

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Worried about getting hypothermia or pneumonia, we knew we had to get out of our dresses and into something dry. It hit me that Clark had a couple of old shirts somewhere in the barn, keeps them around for emergencies. Digging around, I found them at the bottom of one of his chests which luckily for us I knew where the key was.

Dinah ended up in a t-shirt and I in one of his flannels...so off we went to initiate our plan in somewhat cold, wet underwear and drowning in Clark's shirts, with blankets wrapped around our waists. I am so glad there wasn't a camera in sight.

"You sure you want to be the distraction?"

"It's either that or scream your windows down. Your choice"

Lois rolled her eyes "Not much of one" She muttered feeling nervous about going back into that house. What if she decided to stay? Become like one of them again. She shuddered at the thought of what her and Clark would do. Can't think like that, Lois...

They were both hunkered down outside the kitchen window while they discussed it, trying hard to prepare for the festivities from hell.

"I'll check upstairs quickly for Zatanna and then head straight out."

"What if they don't fall for it?"

"If I knew what you had done, maybe I could think of something that would definitely bring Clark after you but..." Lois let it hang in the air. Dinah didn't seem to want to admit to her why the rest of the party goers had tossed her out. One day maybe Lois would find it funny, right now though it was just a little inconvenient.

Dinah adjusted her blanket and refused to look Lois in the eyes."It's too bad there isn't three of us.. then I could use you as a hostage."

"Yeah, normally that would work, but I don't see Clark leaving the house even for that. I mean normal Clark would have come after me, but he didn't."

Lois could tell even with the dim back door lighting that Dinah had turned red."What happened?! Did you kiss him?!" Lois pressed her lips together, waiting for a response.

Dinah's head shot up"NO! I wish..." at the look on Lois' face she continued a bit defensively. "I mean I'd rather it had been that...never mind, really you have nothing to be worried about. Even like this Clark has eyes only for you."

With narrowed eyes, Lois accepted that for now, not that it mattered. It seemed at some point everyone they knew got a kiss off Clark. She had hoped, when he had taken to wearing glasses, that he'd give off too much of the dork factor and repel the women around him. It hadn't worked, and Clark being Clark meant he tended to get ambushed from time to time. She had decided it wouldn't have surprised her if Oliver and the rest of the Justice League all one day admitted that they had got their share of him. Poor Clark, it wasn't easy being hot and clueless.

Lois rubbed her cold hands and grumbled. "Lets just get this over with."

Nodding, Dinah went back to the front, trying the door knob she could tell it wasn't locked so she took a deep breath and walked right in. At the sight of Oliver, she froze.

When she heard the front door open Lois pushed the back door in slightly peeking in, no one was in the kitchen.Oh Gawd, don't let me become a stoner.. please!

Christmas music blaring and arguing voices helped with covering up any noise she may have made coming in and would cover her further, biggest problem remained with being unseen.

Crawling across the floor on her hands and knees, Lois ignored the unconscious strung up Oliver though that was kind of hard, especially with the syrup dripping off of him and on to her carpet. She went straight for the back stairs, still praying she would be able to make herself leave when the time came.

Once up the stairs, she called quietly"Zatanna? You up here?"

There was no response, well not that she could tell, there was plenty of yelling from down below. She checked the rooms quickly then paused and went back to the guest room. Something seemed off...she couldn't quiet put her finger on it. Staring at the room, Lois realized that the closet door was not where it should have been. Spreading her fingers over the door hinges, she found that they weren't really there, the air where they were suppose to be shimmered and rolled away likes waves. What the..?

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Dinah took a moment to adjust to the sight of Oliver and his predicament, figuring it was probably best he was asleep and had no clue what they had done to him. It was time to give Lois the distraction she needed, shutting the door hard, Dinah smirked and loudly exclaimed. "BOY, was it cold out there."
The room went quiet except for the music, all eyes turned on her. An involuntary shiver went down her spine at the looks on the men's faces. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Clark and AC stood up at the same time and took a step toward her, Dinah swallowed knowing how bad this was. Lois had made it clear she didn't want all the glass in the house broke, which didn't leave much defense against the two men, especially Clark. Kicking him was like diving into the ground and expecting to swim. Never mind the rest of the men's arsenal. She had to keep her distance and hope he didn't resort to frying her with his heat vision, she hoped he wasn't going to get that bad.

Looking over to Tess, Mera, and Courtney in hopes of some sort of reasonable support, Dinah found herself immensely disappointed. All three women looked completely zoned out, they were all giggles as if everything was amusing. Which was a big contrast to the men in the room.

"What are you doing in here? I told you to stay out" Clark snapped.

"It's cold out there, Clark!"

"Why didn't you just leave then?"

"Oh I don't know...maybe because my keys were in here with my coat!" She glanced around for said coat and pointed "See! I just came back in for them."

Clark walked over to the coat and flung it at her. "Please, by all means...now go!"

Okay so now what? Come on Lois...

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Lois was completely baffled by the door. So was it some sort of spell, hologram, and where was the normal closet door?

She about jumped twenty feet when the door vanished and a hand suddenly reached out touching her shoulder. "Don't scream!" A voice hissed quietly.

Recognizing the voice, Lois clamped down on her yelp and turned quickly around "Zatanna!"

"Lois, I'm sorry." She started.

Lois frowned. "You did this?" spreading her arms out, meaning the state of everyone.

Shaking her head, Zatanna sat on the edge of the bed, she looked exhausted. "No, but I should have been able to stop it from going this far."

Lois felt confused and a bit like her head was floating."Okay...well...we need to get out of here, then you can explain fully."

Zatanna shook her head. "I've been trying to locate the enchantment, if I leave I can't do that."

"If you stay, you'll end up like them."

"No, Lois you don't understand.-" She stopped when the noise from downstairs became quite deafening. Male voices could be heard in a heated argument.

For the life of her, Lois couldn't make out what the issue was but figured it was a good time to get out of there, hoping Dinah was faring well.

"Sorry Magic Lady." Lois grabbed her, shaking off the strange sensation that had begun to fill her. "We can't stay." She pushed Zatanna towards the door.

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"Give it to me."

"No! its mine..." Bart held the present behind his back.

Emil was digging into chocolate liqueurs while Victor was picking up each present under the tree, shaking them.

"Look here speedy! You don't hand that to me and I'm gonna …" A.C. went on.

Dinah wasn't sure what was more pathetic. The two men fighting over a gift or the fact they were fighting over a gift that wasn't theirs. She recognized the wrapping, it was hers to Courtney. Lois had assigned everyone a task of giving someone else a gift. Sadly, they hadn't got around to exchanging them before this nightmare began.

Clark was distracted with the others which had allowed Dinah a breather, yet she was still unsure of what to do. Instinct said to leave but she wasn't about to desert Lois. It felt like she had received an extra gift when she noticed Lois and Zatanna moving to the back door. The men luckily were all to busy arguing and shoving amongst themselves to notice.

Once Lois pushed Zatanna out the door, Dinah made her move. She grabbed for Tess who was the closest to her and yanked her out the front door. Relieved when they made it back outside and into the cold air. She hadn't realized till she stood outside that she had begun to feel funny. But there was nothing like freezing in a blanket and t-shirt in winter weather to snap one out of it.

Lois had made the mistake of looking to make sure Dinah had gotten out. When she turned back around to go out the back door she walked right into the familiar chest of her unmovable husband.

"Lois," He looked down at her with a flushed face and glazed over eyes, the expression on his face was far more worrisome however. "You came back in!"

"Ah yeah...needed to..." Lois eye's darted around the room. No, no, no, no...I can't do this...

"I missed you." His voice taking on a sweet softness and he pulled her towards the living room. All Lois could think was how she couldn't let his Kent charm get to her. Focus Lois!

"I missed you too." It was true, but it was the lucid thinking Clark she missed not the randy party version.

He smiled in response, drawing her flush into him. "Then prove it..." He whispered, plunging her mouth with his own.

Lois tried to fight him off only in doing so she inhaled deeply, bringing more of the Christmas scent into her lungs. The lightheaded feeling she had turned into something else, a complete lack of care. It really was the best Christmas ever wasn't it? Especially with what Clark's magic mouth was doing.

So there I was... completely overcome by Clark and the enchantment. So much so that I didn't hear the fighting, or music, or even noticed that some how Clark and I had ended up in the pantry, on the floor. I only wanted one thing and that was Clark.

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