Worst Timing Ever
Chapter 11
There was a buzzing in the air as Clark stood leaned against the frame of the hallway watching the occupants of the room scurry around trying to accommodate the group that was currently their duty to serve and please.
They had all gathered there so that Clark and Bradley could be fitted for their tuxedos for the wedding. Chloe had dragged Jimmy along with her to find him something appropriate to wear for the ceremony since most of what he had wasn't fancy enough to wear inside a church. At least that was the way she had put it. Lana and Oliver had tagged along simply because neither wanted to pass up a chance to see Lois barking orders to anyone.
They never got as many chances to see Lois in all of her glory as often as Clark did considering that most of his opportunities came up on the spur of the moment during an interview gone wrong or a source that wouldn't talk like they had promised. Those were the times when Lois' temperament could make even the General blush.
Clark furrowed his eyebrows at the thought of her dad and wondered what the man had been told about this wedding.
He pushed off of his spot on the frame and walked over to where Lois was sitting next to Bradley on a couch in the middle of the private room they were all in. He sat next Lois on her right side as she and Bradley looked at a sample book from the shop that would handle the floral arrangements.
"Lois, I have a question for you," Clark said as he dipped his head in closer to hers as it was bent downward looking at the book in her lap. The second he did, though, he immediately regretted the action as he was enveloped by the sweet scent that he always associated with Lois. It was soft and natural and it never faded because it was totally Lois Lane and she never liked to wear perfume.
She turned her head to look at him and he realized then that due to the angle of both their faces, if he leaned in just an inch or two closer Clark would be able to kiss her red, pouty lips. It was something he had been dreaming of for weeks now. Of course, in his dreams they never just ended at the kissing parts but went way beyond that.
Clark would dream about the soft feel of her skin. He always loved when he got to move his lips down her taut stomach muscles, the special silkiness of her brown locks as his fingers tangled up in her hair, and then there was always that one moment of undoing; it was when she moaned his name and there was never any going back.
"Clark?"
That was always how it sounded in his dreams.
"Clark?"
Except in his dreams it was a little huskier and laced with lust.
"Yo, Clark! Come back to the living, man."
That was not what he heard in his dreams that sounded a lot like Oliver.
It was enough to jolt Clark from his mind and his blue eyes refocused on the room. Everyone was looking at him with curious expressions. He felt a blush creep up to his cheeks as he noticed that he was in a room full of his best friends and had got lost within his own daydreams about Lois.
As if he hadn't enough problems, Clark had to go and add public humiliation to the list as well.
Figures, Clark thought bitterly before he leaned back in his spot on the couch. It created some much needed space between him and Lois as he looked to Oliver across the room. The young blond was staring at him with a cocky smirk.
Clark glared at him. "I was just wondering what was going on with The General? Is he coming to the wedding or not?"
Bradley moved his eyes around Lois to look at Clark. He fixed him with a genuinely curious expression as his arm rested around Lois' waist and he squeezed her closer to him.
"Who is 'the general' and what does he matter?"
Clark smirked with the pleasure that he would be able to tell Bradley who his future father-in-law was and hopefully see the panic set in as he realized that he may be in over his head with the Lane family.
"The General is Lois' father. Didn't she tell you?" Clark inquired and feigned disbelief for his best friend. "How could you Lois? This is important stuff. You're starting to lose your savvy street smarts. Not telling Bradley, here, about your father, for shame."
Lois glared at him and snapped the floral book shut. "I told him who my father was. I just didn't mention what he does for a living. We hadn't gotten that far into the conversation, yet. In case you missed it, Smallville, I have been occupied by other things lately like planning a wedding in another freaking country. Now if you'll excuse me I am going to talk to Lana about those different materials for your tie."
Lois stood up in a huff and quickly stalked over to where Lana was standing going over all of the different things for the boys' tuxedo ensembles. She stopped next to her friend and with both hands on her hips threw him one last glare over her shoulder before engrossing herself into the conversation.
Clark smirked again and took a certain amount of pride in the knowledge that he was the only person that could rile Lois up like that without really trying.
He shifted back in his seat a little more and rested an arm on the back of the couch as he continued to stare at Lois. Clark knew that he could have gotten lost in another daydream of her soft lips and her long legs but was brought back to reality very quickly by Bradley.
"So Lois' father is a general?" Bradley questioned as he leaned back in his own spot and glanced between the woman who had just left them and the reporter to his side.
Clark looked at him casually out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, he is a Lieutenant General in the Army."
"Oh." Bradley responded quietly. Clark noticed the pale look that had settled over the man's face and decided that there were a few more things Bradley should know about Sam Lane.
"He is a highly decorated, respected, and successful military man." Clark began as Bradley focused his eyes on him with a twinge of fear in them. "Sam Lane is a fierce soldier, a veteran of two wars, a consultant of the White House, and all of the men he has had under his command feared him."
"Feared him? I think you mean that they respected him. That is what you said before, wasn't it?" Bradley commented and his wide eyes indicated his mounting apprehension of his fiancé's father.
Clark chuckled. "No, I meant that his superiors and his colleagues respect him. All of the men under his order fear him and for good reason. He is probably the most intimidating man I have ever met."
Bradley looked at him still afraid and slightly skeptical now. "Didn't you and Lois get the exclusive interview of that mass murder last year right before he was put to death?"
"Yep but at that point he wasn't scary or intimidating anymore considering he was chained and about to walk to his demise. Plus, that man was half my size so it wasn't easy to be afraid of him but the General, well he is another story. He could be the size of Thumbelina and he would still make me shake in my boots because it's his presence that intimidates and his glares that give a whole other meaning to 'If looks could kill.'."
Clark stood up but not before leaning over to Bradley and slapped his shoulder. "But it really isn't my problem. I'm not the guy marrying his daughter after only a few months of knowing each other."
He stalked away from his rival and then walked over to talk to Oliver who was standing by the girls looking at him with a smug and amused grin on his face.
"I take it you instilled the fear of God in Bradley by the look of horror on his face." Oliver asked when Clark was close enough to hear him.
Clark laughed a little and shook his head as he shoved both of his hands in his pockets, "No, not the fear of God just the fear of her father."
Oliver smirked. "Well, I think it worked."
He looked over his shoulder at Bradley who was sitting in a very still position as he stared off into the space in front of his feet with a very unsure and nervous look in his eyes.
Clark smirked before turning back to Oliver. "Yeah, I think it did."
~X~
Later that night Clark walked off of the elevator and into the bullpen of the Planet. It was practically deserted given the time of night but he knew she would still be there working at her desk, furiously typing away as she usually did.
Clark strolled along a little further into the room and as his desk came into sight, sure enough, she was right there sitting at her own desk which was directly across from his. Lois was as he had predicted and was totally wrapped in whatever story she was working on. She was in her full on award winning journalist mode as she had her eyes furrowed, a pencil stuck in her messy hair, and her shoes thrown the side so she could be as comfortable as possible.
He stood for a moment watching her, and it was moments like that when his heart hurt the most because he knew that it was a real possibility that Lois didn't return his feelings, that he would lay it all on the line with her and be rejected. It was a real possibility that Lois would marry Bradley and he would lose her forever.
It was almost too much for him to handle when his mind wandered into the darkest places of his soul and heart and he was forced to face all of his fears. The pain of uncertainty and the weight of the worst possible scenarios, he felt, could and would crush him if they got the chance.
"Are you going to stand there all night or are you going to actually move and maybe help me out a little on our story."
Clark chuckled and all of his thoughts were instantly forgotten at the sound of her voice filling the nearly empty bullpen.
"I don't know. If I stay here then I could just enjoy my tacos without having to work for my meal one little bit."
Lois turned her head to the side and gave him a quizzical stare, "Tacos? From where?"
Clark chuckled again and started moving closer to her desk. He grabbed onto a chair that was abandoned in the middle of the room and swiveled it until it was next to hers then plopped the brown paper bag onto her desk as he sat down.
"From Ferdinand's' or do you think I would bring you food from a place you don't like? And if you think that is true then you don't know me at all." Clark smiled at her and opened the bag as the delicious scent of the Mexican food filled the air.
"How could I have ever had any doubt in you?" Lois smiled as she grabbed onto the taco Clark held out for her to take.
The moment that their fingers accidently touched there was a shock of electricity. They looked at each other for a moment. His blue eyes were locked onto her hazel ones and the air around them took on a seriousness that hadn't been there a few seconds ago.
Lois broke out into a smile first. "Well, Kent it looks like we've got a spark between us."
Clark smiled too. "Yeah, I would say we do."
She pulled her hand away and opened her taco. Clark followed her actions and they both began to eat. They sat there in a comfortable silence and the only sound was the hum of the computers in the room and the other one or two late night workers.
His mind wandered back to his earlier worries and concerns. They were still so prevalent in his mind but then Clark looked at Lois out of the corner of his eye. She caught him looking at her and ducked her head down a little to avoid his gaze.
But she wasn't quick enough to hide the blush forming on her cheeks from Clark's attention and it was then that he thought all of those fears may be foolish. There may very well be a shift in the winds and they were in his favor.
Finally.
End of Chapter 11.
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