Chapter 12

Stepping inside his apartment on Friday evening, Clark looked around and grimaced. Lois had only stayed with him for three nights, but when he'd told her that his apartment was going to feel empty once she was gone, he'd spoken the truth. He missed not seeing her when he came home from work, he missed holding her at night; he just missed her.

He hadn't seen her for 15 years, couldn't say that he'd missed her in that time; but now that he'd found her again, everything seemed coloured in grey without her presence. She'd only stayed with him for three days, and he missed her like hell.

For the past two nights, he'd lain in bed, remembering how it felt to have her near, and hated that he was once again reduced to sleeping alone. He'd been too damn busy with both his jobs to even give her a call since she'd left, and unless he could find a solution fast, she was more than likely going to believe that both his speeches about wanting to see her once she left Metropolis had been a lot of rubbish.

He strode through the apartment, dumped his laptop on the kitchen table, walked into his bedroom straight to the bathroom, stripped, had a quick shower, shaved, dressed and was out a few minutes later. He stepped into the kitchen, opened the fridge hoping to find something to eat, and closed it just as quickly.

This was the first time since Wednesday morning that all was quiet. He couldn't hear any sirens, no calls for help; nor did he have any stories that had to be worked on. He was free and he wasn't going to spend it alone. Grinning, he spun into his suit, flew out the window and took to the skies. He only had one destination in mind, Seattle; specifically Lois.

Within minutes he came to a stop above her house, took a quick look around the neighbourhood, and after ensuring the coast was clear, flew down, landed in her backyard and swiftly spun out of the suit into his jeans and t-shirt.

As it was the middle of summer and darkness had yet to fall in Seattle, he could see the house and garden easily. Everywhere he looked, the profusion of colours in the different flowers showed a clear testament to Lois' profess of gardening. Upon hearing the soft dreamy music wafting through the air, he lifted his eyes from the garden to the gazebo and grinned. Lois was right, it was a little fancy but it fit right into the setting. It was partially enclosed, with a wooden roof and half shades, while the white latticework around the base and upper trim gave it a romantic touch. The abundance of flowers and fairy-lights scattered here and there, played a perfect backdrop, altogether making her backyard inviting and somewhat magical.

He walked towards the gazebo, his shoes silent on the grass and came to a stop at the opening to take in the view. It wasn't the outdoor setting that captured his attention, but his love, asleep on a chaise lounge with a huge mountain of a dog snuffling quietly on the ground beside her. If he wasn't invulnerable he'd turn tail and run, but instead he squared his shoulders, took a step forward and promptly stopped when the dog awoke, sat up and growled low in his throat.

Lois put out a hand absently, patted the animal to calm him, and kept dozing; but instead of relaxing the dog continued to watch him carefully. He trod forward confidently, crouched down on his haunches, let the dog have a good sniff of him, and when it calmed, scratched him under the chin, before leaning up to press his lips lightly against Lois'.

She stirred, lashes fluttered up, and her eyes fastened onto his face "Hi."

"Hi yourself."

"What are you doing here?"

"I told you that I'd come to see you." He replied brushing the hair from her cheek.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you meant so soon."

"I would have been here sooner if I hadn't been so damned busy." He leant forward and pressed his lips against hers gently once again, before lifting his head to smile. She swung her legs off the chaise, he sat down beside her and reaching down, picked up her legs and placed them in his lap "Don't you know it's dangerous to be outside at night fast asleep; anyone could have found you."

"Anyone did." She grinned back "Besides it's not even dark yet, and Fred was on guard."

He looked at the dog, saw the mutt was once again lying down, and turned back to Lois with lifted brow.

She gurgled out a laugh and shook her head "He really is a good watch dog. If he'd thought you were up to no good, you'd have a nice set of teeth prints in your arm, with a nice big dog attached to it as well."

He tilted his head to the side "How'd he know I wasn't up to anything?"

She shrugged "Animals tend to have a sixth sense about people, and Fred's better than most; also his size is usually enough to intimidate anyone who doesn't know him."

Clark titled his head to look down at the animal "I can understand why; so is he a dog or a small horse?"

Lois leant down, scratched Fred's head, and looked over her shoulder to smile at him "He's a beauty isn't he. I was going to the market one day and saw a woman trying to sell her puppies. Fred was the aberration of the litter as he was about 3 times the size of the others. No one was paying any attention to him because they were too busy oohing and ahhing over the cute, small puppies, but I thought he was just adorable; so I took him."

"Why did you call him Fred?"

"Because he was so big and clumsy when he was a puppy, that he reminded me of Fred Flintstone." She replied promptly.

He grinned in understanding "Don't your allergies bother you anymore?"

"No, his hairs short so that helps, and as long as I take my tablets, I'm ok." She paused and grinned at her dog "And with this mountain of fur as a constant reminder, I never forget."

He nodded in agreement and asked curiously "What'd you do with him when you were in Metropolis?"

She smiled and after a last scratch of Fred's head, sat back up "He was in one of those fancy dog kennels, and although he's been there before and the staff love him, and I knew that'd he be ok; he still showed me the sulks when I picked him up yesterday morning." When Clark grinned, she nodded "Seriously, last night I was practically on my hands and knees begging forgiveness, after he'd spent all day ignoring me."

Chuckling lightly at the mental picture her words had conjured, he looked at Fred and noted the animal was looking at Lois with sheer devotion "He's not sulking anymore."

"That's because I bribed him." Lois replied shamefaced, and at his quirked brow she shrugged half-heartedly "Yes I know that I'm not supposed to, and I don't make it a habit, but I think those trainers are sometimes just full of crap. They don't have to live with a big baby who sighs woefully, mopes and only comes reluctantly with a pathetic 'are you sure you really want me back' look on his face, when I pick him up from the kennel after I've been away for a few days."

Clark let out a burst of laughter and shook his head "I can't believe you let your dog guilt you into sucking up."

"Yeah well you should have seen me last night; I swear the kennel he was in, is like the Buckingham Palace for pets, but he still managed to make me feel like the lowest scum on earth for leaving him there." She looked at Fred and smiled when she saw that he was pointedly looking down at the ground "But it's all good now because he loves me again."

He smiled back, and lifted his hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear "You didn't tell me you had a dog."

"I think we were too busy with other things to exchange information." She teased, and swinging her legs off his lap, stood and stretched "What's the time?"

He looked at his watch "Almost 9.30 but that's in Metropolis, so here it's almost 6.30."

"Well then did you wanna stay and have some dinner?"

"Please, besides I think it's only fair that you feed me, since I took the time to be in your neighbourhood and all."

"It only takes you a minute to be in the neighbourhood." She chuckled lightly, and turned to enter the house.

"It's the thought that counts Lo." Clark replied wounded and likewise standing began to follow her into the house but was bumped out of the way by Fred, who pushed in front to follow his mistress. The dog trod inside, then turned, sat down on his haunches to block the doorway and looked up at him. Stopping short, Clark looked at the dog, the dog stared back. The two males shared a long considering look and sized each other up, until finally Fred let out a small huff and moved aside allowing him entrance. He smiled, stepped forward, and bent down to give the mutt another scratch, understanding that he'd been given the seal of approval.

Rising to his feet, he stepped inside the house and into the kitchen, slid the screen door closed and looked up to find Lois stepping back into the kitchen and heading towards the stove.

"Um Lo...." She looked up curious "Where can I wash my hands?"

She pointed to the direction she'd just come from "Just down the hall, the second door on the right." Opening the oven she pulled out a large dish and placed it on the island.

"Do you mind if I look around?' She shook her head; he smiled in thanks and after washing his hands, proceeded to step from one room to the next taking in the surroundings.

She had a lovely house, the rooms were spacious, without feeling overlarge or uncomfortably showy, and he was grateful. Nothing could put a person more ill at ease than a house that had a designer, never been touched, sit up straight and don't drop feeling to it. Lois' house didn't have that feeling. There was a nice hodgepodge of classic and vintage furniture, with just a touch of the bohemian. A decorator wouldn't have used the combination, which meant that Lois had done it herself. He'd never thought about it before, but when Lois had lived above the Talon, she'd just moved her stuff in after Lana vacated it, but hadn't bothered changing the colour scheme or much of anything to suit herself. However, as her home was a direct contrast to her old apartment, it was clear that Lana's taste was vastly different to Lois'. Here she'd taken the time and care to stamp her style throughout, and he understood that here she lived; at the Talon she'd only existed.

He was hoping to coax her into allowing him to spend a lot of time with her here, at least until he could nudge her into moving to Metropolis. He stopped on the threshold to her bedroom and his lips lifted slightly. Her bedroom didn't have a girly edge to it thank goodness. It was feminine which was to be expected, but as Lois had never been over girly, her room wasn't covered in an excess of lace and trimmings. He wouldn't feel awkward sharing it with her for the interim, and that was something he was hoping to get her agreement on this evening. His eyes took in the queen sized bed, the simple furnishings and with a last pleased smile he returned to the kitchen to find her setting the table "You have a beautiful house Lo."

She looked up and smiled "Thanks, I knew that I'd be here forever, so decorated it exactly the way I like it."

"You don't think you'll ever move?" He asked quietly and felt his stomach drop. Pushing aside his disappointment, he strode forward to carry the dishes from the counter to the table.

"Nope, I've had enough of that. I moved around a lot before I found this place and now that I have, this is it." She placed the cutlery on the table, turned and grabbed the napkins.

"Do you want me to cut some bread?"

"Please." After slicing several pieces, he picked up the butter from the counter and placed both on the table, before turning to watch quietly as she fed the dog.

Looking at the amount of food, he hoped that Lois hadn't intended to share it with anyone else, but had to know so asked "Ok, so I have just one question; how come you have enough food for at least three people?"

She straightened up and grinned in reply "Because I have a housekeeper who insists on making extra. I sometimes forget to eat when I'm working, and as she's part Greek, forgetting to eat is almost a mortal sin. So she makes enough to ensure that I'm never in danger of going hungry, and always have leftovers."

"You have a house keeper?" Clark asked surprised.

"Uh huh; there should be a bottle of red wine chilling in the fridge; can you open it, while I grab the salad?" He nodded, retrieved the wine, poured it, and carrying the salad to the table, she gestured for him to take a seat.

After his third helping, Clark sat back replete "Well whatever you pay her is worth it; those were the best lamb chops I've ever had."

Lois smiled in agreement "Yeah she's great. When she applied for the job, I wasn't sure if I'd feel like eating rich Greek food every night, but she said that she can cook anything from American pot roast to meatloaf, and she wasn't kidding."

He picked up his wine and sipped before placing the glass back down and confessing "I actually thought you might have had a date that was cancelled, and that's why you had the extra food."

She shook her head and slightly rolled her eyes "Why didn't you just ask me?"

He shrugged and sipped his wine "I came here not only to see you tonight, but also because I have a proposition for you."

"Uh huh."

"I was thinking..."

"About....?" Lois encouraged when he stopped.

"Well I know that we agreed to take our time."

"Yeah."

"But I was thinking about some stuff, and thought it was best if I talk to you in person."

Lois smiled at the uneasiness in his voice "This sounds serious, so how about we put the leftovers in the fridge, the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and sit in the lounge room. We can have dessert afterwards?"

He nodded and rising the two of them worked in tandem until the kitchen was once again spotless. "Do you want some more wine?" At her nod, he refilled their glasses, and glanced over to see that Fred was curled up beside the back door snoozing.

Well he'd better start looking at houses in Metropolis; since Fred came as part of a package deal with Lois, and no building owner would allow a pet of his size in an apartment, they were going to need a house. They'd have to rent until they could afford to buy, but he could start scouting around and find out what was available, then after he convinced Lois to move back to Metropolis, he could take her round and show her all the places he'd found. His lips lifted in a half smile; correction, he'd fly her and Fred there, then all of them could look around until they all found something that suited.

With a last smile at the behemoth, he followed Lois into the lounge room and took a seat beside her on the couch.

Rather than rushing him into speech, Lois sat quietly waiting for Clark to begin. Turning to face her, he put his glass on the coffee table and picked up her hand "You agreed that we could take our time, but also said that our relationship would be casual, right?" She nodded and gestured with her glass for him to continue "Ok, well as you know Superman's going to be keeping me pretty busy, which is going to cut into my personal life." She nodded and lifted one shoulder in agreement "So I was thinking that on the weekends I could come here and stay with you."

"That's not exactly taking our time." She reminded him gently.

"Yes it is, but taking our time doesn't mean we have to take it in separate cities 7 days a week." He corrected without shifting his eyes from hers. "I'll come here after work on Friday night and stay until the Monday morning, and this way we have a firm date every weekend."

She chewed it over for a moment "I know you can fly here easily enough, but weekends are date nights. Don't you wanna spend what free time you have with women who live a little closer to you, women that you can see during the week as well?"

He planned on spending time with her during the week; and coaxing her into letting him stay each weekend was just the beginning he needed. As she'd pointed out, the weekends were date nights, and he'd intended to ensure that hers were fully booked with no one but himself. However, as he couldn't very well tell her that, he decided to deflect whatever arguments she came up with, from any angle that he could find. He was going to win this; win her and if that meant telling her a load of crap, just to get her agreement into letting him stay on the weekends, then he considered it fair play. All he needed was to get his foot in the door, and a permanent invite to spend the weekends would accomplish that. His next campaign of action would be to claim more and more, until she was his once and for all.

He shook his head in answer to her question "I've only been working at the Planet for a month, and I'm sure you remember what it's like being a reporter?" She lifted her brows in query; so he explained further "You never know when a story's gonna break, so I have to make sure that I'm available. I really wanna concentrate on my career right now, building a reputation as a journalist; not worrying about looking for dates during the week."

Although she nodded in understanding, her brow wrinkled in confusion "But won't that also apply during the weekend?"

"Nope, as Clark Kent I've gotta have some down time, because as Superman I'm not always going to always have that luxury; and as I'll only be working at the Planet on the weekend if a story's hot, it all works out."

She pursed her lips and nodded slowly once again.

Seeing that she needed a little more convincing, he decided to up the ante and hoped it would be enough "You have to admit we had fun together Lo; not just in bed but out of it too." When she smiled he knocked her arm lightly with his "Besides I told you that I'd miss you and I have."

"I've only been gone two days." She replied dryly.

"And two nights." He countered in the same vein.

"Missed the sex huh?"

He rocked his head lightly in pretend agreement "I've missed you and the sex."

She grinned in return "Well, truth be told, so have I; although we only spent a few days together I enjoyed myself."

"You don't have to sound so surprised." He replied reproachfully, but felt heartened at her words nonetheless.

She sipped her wine and smiled impishly "I can't help it. I never would have believed that I could enjoy your company so much; but now that you're no longer playing the role of Lana's bitch in some kind of Smallville prison movie, you're a fun guy."

Clark groaned "I wasn't that bad...." At her lifted brows, he groaned louder "Oh god, I was that bad; I was Lana's bitch, wasn't I?

"Mmm hmm" She replied, lifting her glass to sip, but couldn't suppress the smile that touched her lips.

"No one else has ever said that to me, thank goodness." He let go of her hand, reached for his wine and took a big gulp, almost spitting it out at her next words.

"They never said it, but I bet they thought it." Lois replied promptly. He looked up, saw her face was dead straight, but her eyes were filled with mirth and her lips quivered in betrayal.

He drained his glass, took hers and drained it as well. "I'm not going to ask anyone, I have a feeling ignorance is bliss in this situation."

"Very wise; and now that you've drunk my wine, how about getting me another glass?" He zipped to the kitchen, grabbed the bottle and returned to the living room, to refill both their glasses.

"Anyway, getting this conversation back to the point, what'd you think?" Clark asked calmly.

"About you staying here on the weekends?" Lois asked not bothering to pretend she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Yeah."

"What happened to casual?"

"It's only on the weekends Lo."

"Well I do have a spare room that you can sleep in." She replied seriously.

He chuffed out a laugh "I was hoping to sleep with you."

Lois shook her head sadly "I don't know Clark, I met a girl today who warned me that if I let a boy get too close, I'm liable to catch boy germs."

"How old was this girl?" He asked amused.

"About 8, but she seemed very wise for her years." Lois replied straight-faced.

"Well I can catch girl germs too."

"Don't you know anything; girl germs are pretty." She replied patiently with a light roll of her eyes.

He grinned and crossed his heart "If I promise not to give you boy germs, can I stay?"

She thought about it for a moment, sipped her wine and finally nodded slowly.

"Is that a yes?" He asked cautiously.

"Yes." She confirmed with a lopsided smile.

"Good." He grinned in return.

Lois looked him dead in the eye and added the cautionary warning "But Clark, if you get sick of the back and forth, I won't be offended if you change your mind. Or if there's a weekend where you just don't feel like coming over that's fine, but let me know so that I don't waste my time expecting you, ok?"

"I will but I don't see that being a problem. There might be occasions when I won't be here straight after work on Friday because of Superman duties, but otherwise I'll be here or I'll let you know." He replied; feeling pleased when she relaxed and nodded in agreement.

He placed his glass on the coffee table, took hers, placed it beside his and gathered her in his arms "I think we should seal the deal." Without giving her time to respond, he captured her mouth with his, and softly urged her mouth to open by running his tongue along the seam. As soon as her lips parted, he slipped his tongue inside, caressing and enticing hers into the dance. Their lips stayed locked as their tongues twisted and twined, rolled and played with each others. When their mouths broke apart; his eyes opened to gaze at the woman in his arms.

Her lashes fluttered open, and her eyes smiled into his "Did you want dessert?"

He smiled devilishly "We're having it." Her rose, gathered her up and carried her into the bedroom.

"Mmmm...Clark...othe..." Her voice was drowned under his lips once again.

It was several minutes before he released her lips, but leant forward to capture her mouth softly with his once then again, before letting her up for air.

"Were you trying to say something Lo?" He nuzzled against her throat, while his hands got busy tugging her t-shirt up and off.

She sat up, straddled his lap, tugged him up to sitting position and dragged his t-shirt off "If you're staying for the weekend, don't you think you'd better go home and get some clothes, or you'll be wearing the same outfit for the next two days."

"Two and a half." He corrected, then made her scream when he grabbed her around the waist and rolled her under him again "I'll go later; right now I have more important things to do."

She laughed throatily in reply, tugged down his zipper and wiggled her eye brows before slipping her hand inside to cup him through his briefs "Such as?"

"Such as getting you to call me Superman; right here, right now." He grinned; slipping her bra off and palming one rich globe, while his thumb lazily stroked back and forth over the tip.

She laughed again, pressed her mouth to his ear and whispered "You'll have to earn it."

"I'm going to." He promised and took her lips with his once again.

***

Sighing deeply in satisfaction, Clark rolled off Lois and lay with his face almost buried in the pillow, while he panted harshly and enjoyed the languorous feeling settling through every muscle and tendon in his body. He could hear Lois' heart thundering, her lungs working overtime to drag in deeps gulps of air, and felt even more satisfied that he'd just given her every reason to be happy that she'd said yes.

"You know, I think I like the idea of you staying over every weekend." Lois confessed and stretched lazy as a cat.

He rolled over, turned his head to the side and almost laughed at the goofy smile on her face. He shook his head sadly, but didn't bother trying to suppress the twinkle he knew was shining bright in his eyes "You just wanna use me as some kind of sex toy." Leaning over, he kissed her quickly and gave into the laughter "And I accept."

Lois giggled "I have my own personal sex toy, woo hoo."

Laughing he picked her up, settled her on top of him and crushed her close, while they both continued to chuckle. When the room was silent, the lay quietly; just enjoying the feeling of closeness being together brought.

"Do you want some dessert now?" She asked softly.

"Yeah I do." He replied, rubbing one hand up and down her back.

She nodded, pecked his chin and went to shift off him, but instead of letting her go, he rolled them over and cupped her face in his hands "Do you mind if I bring some stuff that I can leave here. Y'know work clothes for Monday's and other stuff, to save me having to pack every weekend."

She smiled and shook her head "That's fine, then at least if you get called away on Monday morning's, you don't have to go home and change before going to work."

He nodded as if agreeing with her reasoning, and pressed a kiss to her cheek "Thanks."

"Just one thing..." He began to rise but stopped at her voice "You do realise that flying here every weekend, doesn't give you intergalactic frequent flier miles, right?"

His eyes narrowed at the smirk on her face "You think that's really funny, don't you?"

She nodded and smothered the laughter with the back of her hand "Yep."

"What is wrong with calling myself an Intergalactic Traveller, might I ask?" Clark asked politely.

"Nothing; except you haven't travelled anywhere." Lois squeaked out, before giving in and screaming with laughter.

"I travelled here." He replied indignantly.

"You were put in a space ship and sent here; you didn't plot a course and explore the galaxy in your travels." She replied between giggles.

He huffed, grumbled and rising stood and began to dress "I'm going home, having a shower, changing and will be back with some stuff." Once dressed he bent down and pressed a kiss against her smiling lips. "No one's ever laughed at that before...." then quickly held up a hand when her mouth opened "I know they probably wanted to."

***

He zipped home, packed and was about to return when a Superman emergency detained him but was back in Seattle within 45 minutes. When he returned it was to find that Lois had made room for him in her closet and had given him two drawers. Seeing his clothes hanging beside hers, appreciating that she was making room for him, he smiled.

He'd won the first round, and felt pleased with himself; not that he'd intended to lose. If he'd had to seduce Lois just to remind her of the great sex they could have every weekend, then he'd been ready to do so. Chuckling lightly he shook his head; he had done that, but at least he'd been a gentleman about it. He'd only done it after Lois had agreed.

After putting the remainder of his clothes away, he stepped into the bathroom, placed his toothbrush next to hers, put his aftershave and various other items into the cabinet, and felt another burst at satisfaction at seeing his toiletries beside hers. Returning to the lounge room, he took a seat beside her once again, and began to dig into the dessert Lois had set aside for him.

Right now he felt more than a little content with his lot in life. Stage one was complete; her weekends were now going to be spent with him. Whatever outings, gatherings or parties she was invited to, if it was on a weekend, he'd be right there beside her. Stage two was next; getting her agreement to dating him exclusively, and that was another battle he had no intention of losing. She was already his and just didn't know it yet; but he did. For now he'd let her think it was just sex; and by the time she realised it never had been, her heart would belong to him, as surely as his already belonged to her, and by then it would be far too late to run.