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Clark and Lois opened the front door, glancing at each other uneasily. They stood inside the foyer pointedly avoiding each other's eyes. The place was fully furnished. It was clean and open with lots of windows and vaulted ceilings. Clark felt as if there was something terribly intimate about entering the house together like this and from the way Lois was shooting him glances through her lashes, he thought Lois felt it too. She moved quickly through the house, following Jason's trail.
The boy ran up the stairs quickly yelling "I get to pick first!"
"This place is incredible." She said with awe. She seemed almost shy and Clark knew something was wrong. Lois was many things, but shyness was not a trait he would attribute to her. Clark wondered at Lois' hesitancy around him, and cursed losing his temper earlier in the driveway. What exactly had Lois seen when he had lost control like that with Kurt?
"Come on. We'd better hurry before he decides that the master bedroom is perfect for his puzzle collection."
Clark chuckled, and said, "I don't mind, Lois."
"Well, I do. Besides, that would look odd, if anyone were to come over."
Jason was bouncing on a full sized bed in a room that had dark wood and map boarder paper. It looked very masculine, and not at all like a little boy's room. "Isn't this place great?"
Lois smiled indulgently at him, "Don't you want to check out the other rooms before you pick this one, sweety?"
"I already did. Didn't you see me?"
Clark shifted uncomfortably and decided that a change in subject was in order. "I'm going to see what's left."
Lois followed him and they passed what appeared to be a craft room, filled with framed needlepoint pictures and a small twin bed covered with a patchwork quilt. The last bedroom upstairs was the master bedroom. It had a beautiful mahogany bed and a large door off to one side that let out onto the outside balcony.
Lois tried to open the French doors, but the handle wouldn't budge. "It's stuck."
"Here, Lois. Let me give it a try." Clark grabbed the handle, careful not to bend the metal and pulled. He gave a great show of struggling with the door, and when Lois leaned forward to assist him, he applied a little effort and the door opened easily. "There. Just needed . . ." he made a little pulling motion with his hand in the air, "a little elbow grease. Must have been a little rusty."
Lois looked at him doubtfully and then her smile set a dart of pleasure right through to his soul. Clark watched as the breeze caught a tendril of her hair and curled it around her cheek.
"This is really beautiful." Lois said, looking around the room.
"Then it's yours, Lois."
"No, Clark. You can't take that other room. No. You stay here, and I'll use the craft room as my bedroom. Besides, you'd probably break that bed if you tried to sleep in that tiny thing."
Clark wanted to protest, but couldn't. He knew that the balcony would give him a way to disappear as Superman when the need arose. It was hard when the way Lois was looking longingly at that bed made his stomach do cartwheels in his gut.
Just then Jason walked in the room. "Mommy? Are we going to have dinner soon?"
Lois closed her eyes in despair. "Let's see if we have any food in this place."
They made their way into the kitchen to find a neatly washed and very empty refrigerator. The cabinets had some basic ingredients. Even she could probably throw together some pasta. She was in the middle of looking for a colander when she realized that Clark was still in the doorway. His attention was focused elsewhere, and his face was turned to the side as if he were listening to some distant sound.
"I'll go to the store." His hands went to his neck, as if he had to adjust his nonexistent tie and then stopped, letting his hands fall to his sides. He said, "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"But Clark, that's really not . . . "
And Clark ran out of the kitchen.
Lois stood there gaping at the space where Clark had once been. It was as if someone had flipped a switch in her partner. Was it something she said?
She ignored Jason's questions and went to the front window.
The rental car was still in the driveway. She opened the front door and looked both ways down the street. He was gone. How had Clark disappeared so quickly? Who knew that Clark could move so fast?
Something was up and Lois knew that he hadn't left because they needed a loaf of bread and some soy milk. Dinner was not such a pressing concern. Lois went over their conversation and couldn't figure out what had been the trigger to cause Clark to bolt out of there like he had missed an important appointment. Was that it? Did he have to be someplace quickly?
Where was he, and who was he with? A vivid image of the roses on Clark's desk flashed in her mind. Her heart beat uncomfortably in her chest. She gnawed her thumb nail until the edges were a ragged mess, hardly noticing when Jason decided to try to leap off the couch and fly. The sound of the loud thump as he hit the floor finally caught her attention.
"Jason." she admonished him, "You're going to break something. Go clean up for dinner."
Jason obeyed, leaving her to return to her thoughts. Had the flowers really meant so little to Clark? She tried to picture the owner of that Italian restaurant, and could only picture that blonde woman, Elizabeth. She had managed to merge the two of them in her imaginings.
Lois really didn't want Clark alone, but the thought of seeing him paired up with some woman like Elizabeth . . . it was just wrong. Clark had seemed fairly surprised by the flowers, and had even indicated that he couldn't believe that anyone could have romantic designs on him. Had he even noticed that Elizabeth had been flirting with Clark? She gave a sad little laugh, feeling as if her heart had grown suddenly too heavy.
There was something important here, she could feel it. She just couldn't put her finger on the real issue. It was the same feeling she got when she knew there was a story lurking just below the surface. If she could only dig enough, she knew that eventually she would discover the truth. She sighed and headed toward the kitchen, unable to dismiss the nagging feeling that she was missing something.
She recalled the way Clark had seemed almost a different person when he was putting Kurt in his place. Clark really did have broad shoulders, and those hands . . . Lois laughed at herself. Was she really thinking about Clark in that way?
Men! Richard had always hated when she spent too much time with Clark. He never said anything, but she could sense his unease.
She tried to picture Richard, and instead found herself thinking of Superman. Now there was a mystery to her. Whenever she was near him, he managed to make her feel like a teenager with a crush. Lois would feel flushed and her thoughts would scatter. She really didn't like how flustered she tended to feel, so she had attempted to remain cool and unmoved whenever he was near. Had he picked up on her reserve and decided it was wise to gain some distance? Is that why Superman was so scarce lately?
Her feelings for Superman were complicated. He was exciting and amazing and never really there for her unless her life was in danger. Lois could never be truly comfortable with him. Richard had been comfortable, a friend who took her to every doctor's visit and shared movies and popcorn with her, they went grocery shopping together. . . Her thoughts returned to Clark. Where had he gone? Why had he left so quickly?
What did Clark normally do when he was off the clock? Was he usually alone? She pictured him sitting in an empty apartment eating instant dinners from the microwave. That image struck rather close to home, lately.
At least she had Jason. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she really liked Clark. He had managed to work his way into her affections and for some reason it was really important to her that he was happy. Clark had a heart of gold. Lois silently vowed to try to help him. He was too good a catch to remain single forever. Maybe she could use this assignment as an opportunity to help do something about Clark's self image. Maybe he was so clumsy because he had a deep seated insecurity.
Jason came back into the room, and almost knocked over a table lamp in his haste to return. "All clean!" He showed his hands still dripping from the faucet.
"I'll call you when dinner's ready." Lois said, still lost in thought about her absent partner.
Jason turned on the nature channel and sunk into the couch without another word.
Lois always hated injustice; the thought that Clark was being abused by the likes of Kurt Madison at work and the likes of their new neighbor made her feel that it was time somebody did something about it. Maybe he just needed a help from a friend.
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Lois had just about run out of patience. She had finished cooking and was cleaning up a mess on the counter when she heard Jason call, "Daddy!"
She gasped, and hurried to the doorway, wondering if either Richard or Superman were there. She relaxed when she saw Clark with a shell-shocked expression staring at her boy. Her anger completely evaporated at his vulnerable look. The bags he had hastily gathered from the grocery store were at his feet.
He glanced down at himself, and Lois wanted to laugh wondering if he thought he had transformed the minute Jason had called out to him.
Jason told him enthusiastically about a show he had seen that had talked about the life cycle of a fly. Lois grinned apologetically and reached for the boy to guide him away from Clark.
Clark squatted so that he was nearly at eyelevel with Jason and happiness seemed to radiate off the large man. Lois watched the interaction with amazement, almost akin to wonder. Clark was always a patient man, but she had never seen the quiet joy that seemed to settle over him when he was near her son.
She watched them talk as Clark questioned him on key points of fly development, as if it were the most interesting thing he had ever heard. Jason beamed at the attention, going into greater detail than he usually did. Jason was still describing the finer points of the larval stage, when Lois couldn't take it anymore and insisted that they move into the dinning area.
"I made dinner. There wasn't any need for you to go rushing off to the store."
"Oh. Sorry." He pushed his glasses up nervously and he gave her a tentative smile.
"You should have taken the car." Suspicion was evident in her tone.
Clark shifted uncomfortably, and he stumbled back, almost knocking a framed picture off the wall. "Gee Lois, I thought I'd jog down to the corner market. Do my part for the environment."
Lois hadn't noticed any convenience market close to the house, but she had her mind on other things when they had arrived. "With bags of groceries in your arms?" At his lost look, she softened, "You're hopeless sometimes. Next time, why don't you just take the car? Let's move this into the kitchen. I hope you don't mind pasta. Jason loves any kind of noodle." Lois said as she handed her son some napkins, to put alongside the place settings.
"I love Italian food." He said softly.
She stopped what she was doing and glared at him. The image of those flowers flashed in her mind.
Indeed.
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Clark nervously adjusted the collar of his shirt, and made certain that his glasses were on straight. He could hear Lois swearing under her breath. He reflexively looked over the rims of his glasses to see through the walls. He caught sight of Lois quickly wiping a saucy mess from the stovetop. He grinned, and relaxed his posture. He waved to a neighbor who was trimming a hedge and quickly opened the door.
Jason appeared around the corner and smiled up at Clark. "Daddy!"
The shock of being called that by his son stunned him speechless. He glanced down quickly to make certain that he was out of the Superman outfit. He sighed in relief when he saw that he was dressed in the red plaid again. Clark set the grocery sacks down on the entry tile.
Lois leaned against the kitchen arch. Her face was stern, but her eyes danced in amusement. Jason told him all about a show he had seen earlier. The boy's enthusiasm was charming. Clark squatted so that he could be closer to his son filled with joy at this simple interaction.
They talked for a few minutes before Lois admonished. "I made dinner. There wasn't any need for you to go rushing off to the store."
"Oh. Sorry." He hoped that she couldn't smell the ocean water in his hair. It seemed particularly strong to him. He had gotten the airliner out of the Pacific before anyone could get seriously hurt, but he had almost been too late. He'd have to be more attentive in the future. He pushed his glasses higher on his nose and tried for a smile.
"You should have taken the car." Lois said in a way that Clark recognized. She was providing an opening for him to explain himself.
The car. Of course, if he had just gone to the store, he should have taken the car. He hadn't had time to fly the car out of there without witnesses and he had almost been too late to save the plane as it was. He would have to be more careful in the future. Clark shifted uncomfortably, and he stumbled back, almost knocking a framed picture off the wall. "Gee Lois, I thought I'd jog down to the corner market. Do my part for the environment."
"With bags of groceries in your arms? You're hopeless sometimes." He could hear the rueful affection in her tone and it filled him with joy. "Next time, why don't you just take the car? Let's move this into the kitchen. I hope you don't mind pasta. Jason loves any kind of noodle." He relaxed. Lois looked beautiful in her casual clothing, there was a spot of sauce on her chin and he grinned suppressing the urge to wipe it off.
"I love Italian food."
She shot him a dark look, and he wondered what he had said wrong.
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Feedback is always welcome. I'm never certain if I'm getting this quite right. Let me know what you're looking forward to seeing in the next few chapters. I like to see what I should focus on. Do you want to see more of their relationship progress, or would you rather see more about the evil homeowner association? 'Cause you know all homeowner's associations are inherently evil. It's in the bylaws. I know we'll see more of Clark trying to be a father. Rhea
