Chapter 13 part I
Elena watched from the living room couch as Lois walked in and out of the bedroom getting ready. She was nervous, she could tell, especially since it was so rare to see her like that. She wouldn't be nervous if she was telepathic with someone as good looking as Clark, she'd be deliriously happy. Worse things had happened to her, an to Lois as well.
"I thin is romantic" she said, exaggerating her accent.
"Yeah, you would." Lois was fighting with the brush. That's what happens when you go to sleep with your ponytail on she told herself.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Elena tried to sound offended.
"You see romance in everything, If a man turned into a dog and fell in love with you, you'd find that romantic." She finally managed to get past the most stubborn knots.
"Well, it's not his fault he's a dog." She said mischeviously.
"Yeah, well, mine's not a dog, but…" her head snapped up, did she just…
Elena didn't say anything, she just laughed, nice and loud, as she saw her friend's face turn beet red.
Never one to take one sitting down she reached for a pillow and just as she was about to deliver her blow, the doorbell rang. Of all the things that could possible go through her head at that instant, only one made its way into her thoughts: her hair. She looked around and not finding her hair tie, she squared her shoulders, ran her hand through her hair and opened the door.
"Hey" Clark managed to get out. Her hair fell about her shoulders, he liked it like that, but lately she had only worn it up.
"Your hair looks nice." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them.
Lois was glad her face was already flushed red. She looked up at him, he looked tired.
Was it too farfetched? The question suddenly popped into her head. She had to admit she had been attracted to him since she first met him, would've been hard not to considering how she met him, but still. Through the years she had gotten to know him better, and that didn't help matters much. She had told Martha once that she would consider herself lucky to find someone half as decent as Clark, so maybe the whole issue wasn't the fact that she couldn't like, or even love him, but whether or not someone like him was in the card for her.
The things she now knew about him didn't help matters much, now she wondered if she deserved someone like him, with so much power and kindness rolled into one.
He belonged to the world, not her.
"Wanna go for a walk?" He offered; they needed to talk alone.
"Sure, bye Elena." She walked out and closed the door before her friend could say anything. She didn't want to feel more nervous than she already felt.
"It's going to be okay, you know that right?" His eyes smiled down on her. "Besides, you could do a lot worse than me." Banter, she could do that.
"Well, that's a toss up, really." She laughed at the fake look of hurt on his face. "So how did Chloe react to all of this? I wish I would've been there." They walked side by side towards the elevator.
"It was pretty funny, but I'm sure it won't wear off for a while, so you'll get to see it when you get back."
Chloe, she really needed her right now, she knew about Clark, that would make for a very interesting conversation.
They talked about frivolous stuff the rest of the way, then they hit the street and they both went quiet. They both knew what they had to say, but neither knew how to start.
Clark sighed, it was weird, she knew everything about him, things that he hadn't even told Chloe, yet she didn't look at him any differently. That's what he had always liked about Lois, nothing surprised her, and when it did she accepted it, no matter what it was. Was it so hard to believe she could be for him? Not anymore, and that scared him.
"What did Joe say?" she finally decided to break the silence.
"Not much, he says he can't decipher two of the symbol, only the one in the middle, it means knowledge. He things you know how to reverse this."
"Me? No, at least not yet. Believe me, you will be the first to know." She paused "Have you gone to Jor-el?"
"Jor-el?" what did he have to do with this?
"Well, yeah, this is Indian magic, but the symbol is kryptonian and he has been to earth, maybe he knows something we don't."
He thought about it for a second.
"You know, you might be right. Come on." He grabbed her hand and walked into a lonely alley. He pulled her into a tight embrace.
"What are you doing?" She didn't even try to get out of it.
"Hold on tight, okay?" she nodded and in the blink of an eye, they were gone.