Chapter 4

Lois enjoyed the rest of the night with her friends, and on her way out the restaurant, sent a last smile to the table on the other side of the room.

Parting ways at their hotel room doors, with the reminder that everyone was meeting in the bride-to-be's suite at 8am on the morrow, Lois unlocked her door, had a quick shower, put on her nightdress and switched on the TV.

However, unable to concentrate, she turned the TV off, pulled back the bedcovers, fluffed up the pillows and slipped into bed. After switching off the light, she got comfortable but instead of sleeping lay looking out the balcony doors.

She was glad that Chloe had seen her tonight and come over. Until she'd seen her cousin this evening she hadn't realised that she still missed her. For the first year or so after their last phone call she'd thought about her cousin occasionally, but as she'd decided that it was time to let go and move on, eventually Chloe had been forgotten in the business of living.

There'd been the odd occasions when she'd thought of her cousin over the years, and smile remembering back to happier times, but seeing her tonight had been nice. After the first few awkward minutes, it was like the last 15 years had never been; and she was looking forward to spending some time with her tomorrow night.

It had also been nice to catch up with Oliver and AC again, and to meet Bart and Victor, but Clark had surprised her. She was almost sure that he'd monopolised her time after they were re-introduced. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she'd swear that he was interested in her, which frankly she found stupefying.

He clearly wasn't obsessed with Lana anymore, if his tone of voice when he mentioned their divorce was any indication; but he'd never shown the slightest bit of interest in her company before tonight. True they hadn't seen each other in years, so he could have just been reacting like most single men do around a woman they weren't familiar with; but he hadn't laughingly flirted with her as the other men had done. She hadn't taken the others seriously but Clark had behaved differently to them, and that's what set him apart. She'd only been at the table for 10 minutes but from the time he'd taken her hand, his manner had been both attentive and attracted, with a touch of....determined.

She hadn't just fallen off the turnip truck, she knew when a man was interested, and was pretty sure that he was; but exactly what his intentions were had her baffled. He knew that she didn't live in Metropolis, so if he was hoping to tempt her in a long distance relationship then he'd soon find out it wasn't going to happen.

She could be reading the signals wrong, on the one hand he was Clark Kent, on the other he was nothing like the boy she remembered, making her all too aware that she didn't know the man he was at all. More than likely he was hoping to entice her into nothing more than a short term fling, and if that was the case, then she'd have to let him know that she also had no intention of indulging in a whirl-wind romp before leaving to return home.

But she couldn't seem to banish the look on his face and in his eyes when she'd turned to smile in thanks for the champagne. When the waiter delivered the bottle, she'd been touched at the token of friendship and good wishes sent to Abra by her old friends, and had turned to smile at them in thanks. She'd seen nice smiles and faces of friendship aimed back at her and her friends; but when her eyes met Clark's, she'd seen something more than just fondness or amiability, and that something had caused the butterflies in her stomach to flutter.

God her stomach hadn't fluttered over a man in years; years upon years. Yet it had then. She also hadn't expected to spend the night before her friend got married, to be thinking about a man.

Sighing she rolled over, yawned and closed her eyes. Tomorrow night at dinner she'd take her cue from Clark, and if she got the impression that he was interested, then she'd let him know that neither a short term fling nor an actual relationship was in her plans; fluttering tummy notwithstanding.

***

Clark climbed into bed and lay looking up at the ceiling unable to suppress the smile that touched his lips. He'd looked forward to the dinner all week but hadn't any kind of tingling, warning or premonition that his life was going to change and yet it had. He'd returned to his apartment a different man to the one who'd left. In the space of a few hours, he'd gone from being happy with his life to feeling so many things.

Scared, excited, and different; he felt different, more alive, more everything. After Lois had left the restaurant, he'd finally been able to give his companions his full attention; well mostly, and hadn't missed their swift looks in amusement to each other about it.

All joking aside, his friends had known that he was serious about marrying Lois, but they'd still been surprised when he'd revealed his full intentions; and he could understand their astonishment at the news.

The talk had been general as they ate their meals, but while waiting for desert, AC began to speak then stopped "Clark about Lois...." At the apologetic note in his voice, he'd waved his hand encouraging AC to continue.

"She lives in Seattle Clark, that's on the other side of the country, remember? If you want her attention, you're gonna have to do it with more than a bottle of champagne." AC finished quietly.

He turned to Chloe when she spoke next "He's right Clark, Lois is only going to be here for a few days, so unless she falls for you in that time; you're not going to get very far before she leaves Metropolis and goes home."

Looking around he found that all his friends were looking at him steadily in sympathy "A few days will give me the start that I need; and um....did all of you forget that I can fly; Seattle is no distance for me?' He replied unconcerned, but in a soft enough voice that only those at his table heard him.

"But Lois doesn't know that you can fly." Bart put in seriously.

He smiled complacently "She will; I'm going to be courting the woman and I can only do that if I see her. I don't intend to make up excuses about being in Seattle for work; at best I could get away with that twice in the space of a year, and I'm not going to wait that long between visits to spend time with her; so I'm going to tell her everything."

"You're gonna tell her, just like that?" Oliver asked dubiously.

"Just like that." He confirmed with a nod and when they all looked at each other dubiously he sighed "Guys I know two things without doubt; for the first time in my life I really understand what love is; and two, I'm not going to let anything screw it up." He smiled and shrugged "Years ago I thought Lois was a pain in the ass, but I knew that she was loyal as hell to those she loved, and she loved my parents. If she had found out about me, she would have kept it to herself, and I don't believe it would only have been for mom and dad's sake."

"Why didn't you tell her back then?" Oliver asked quietly.

"I didn't wanna tell anyone back then; I was young and scared; confused about everything, but the one person that I dreaded finding out more than anyone was Lana. I was frightened of anyone knowing but Lana was the big one, because I was nuts about her; but I'm not going to let my relationship with Lois be a re-run of that fiasco." He looked at each of his friends in turn "Lois isn't into playing hard to get and all that bull, you guys both know that..." He turned to Oliver and AC and both nodded in agreement "....well as you all no doubt noticed, she still speaks her mind and doesn't waste time with double talk. If I try to pull the same shit with her that I did with Lana, she won't put up with it, won't appreciate it, and won't be interested in dancing around the maple tree with me, playing coy little games like Lana did. I think Lois would be more inclined to tell me to piss right off, and that would be the end of it. Games are for children, and I'm sure as hell not interested in letting her think that I'm playing games, so I'm gonna tell her."

"You're not frightened of how she'll react?" Bart asked softly.

He nodded "Yeah I am, but I'd rather take the chance than not."

"What if she has a boyfriend?" Victor asked subdued.

"If she does then I'll wait." He replied quietly "I'm hoping that she doesn't, but if she does, then I'll bide my time until she's free." He lifted his glass in salute "Destiny's giving me a second chance, so I doubt that it led me to find Lois tonight, just so I could watch while she rode off into the sunset with someone else."

"You saw her tonight by accident." Bart reminded him dryly.

His brows flew up while his head shook back and forth "Accident; Bart my friend I haven't seen Lois in 15 years, she doesn't even live in Metropolis. I've only been back a month, and yet tonight out of all the nights, and out of all the hundreds of restaurants there are in this city, we both just happened to be here. That is not just a coincidence."

Bart grinned and lifted his glass in salute "Well we only talked for a few minutes but I liked her. Any woman who can laugh at, instead of slapping down my lame ass come on's is alright in my book."

Chloe smiled and reached over to pick up his hand "I'm glad Clark, you need a woman who'll not only stand strong by your side, but one who's as faithful as the day is long; and that's Lo."

He nodded and squeezed her hand "Yeah I know, she always used to give me a verbal kick in the ass when I needed it; not that I always paid attention but she did it anyway. She's also strong enough to stand on her own two feet without needing me to hold her hand every step of the way; and I find that attractive as hell."

She nodded and smiled mistily "Lo has no idea what she's in for does she?"

He shook his head "Nope, now that I've found her again, I won't settle for anyone else. I just have to get her to see that I'm the right man for her, and believe me, I'm gonna do it." His eyes swept over the table as the grin on his face became bigger "Gentlemen, get out your tuxes, Chloe go and buy a dress, because as soon as I can talk Lois into marrying me, there's going to be a wedding."

Coming back to the present, he rolled over and smiled. After the waiter took the champagne to her table, Lois and her friends had looked over to smile in thanks. When his eyes met Lois' he'd not only felt his heart kick hard once again, but he'd also seen her eyes widen for an instant before she'd blinked and it was gone, but it was enough; more than enough for a start.

Tomorrow night he'd be joining Lois and Chloe for dinner, where he'd have to casually find out all the pertinent details that he needed. Exactly how long she was going to be in Metropolis for; then figure out how he could wiggle into spending some part of each day with her without being a nuisance. Find out if she had a boyfriend or significant other that he needed to wait out; and also remind her about going out to see his mom.

Closing his eyes, he decided that he'd have to fly to Smallville first thing in the morning; he was looking forward to seeing his mom's face when he told her the name of her soon to be daughter in law.