She couldn't figure out why the room was so light, because Lois was sure that the fire had burned down before she drifted off to sleep. It was warmer, too and there could only be one reason for that. And as she opened her eyes she understood why, when she saw Clark standing in front of the fireplace.
He had the poker in his hand and was jabbing at the logs, making the flames burn brighter. But there was something in his stance that gave Lois the feeling he wasn't trying to keep the fire going as much as wrestling with something on his mind. So she tossed back the blankets and got up off the couch to see if she could help.
He set the poker aside as she walked behind him and put her arms around him. She laid her cheek against his back and felt him start, just before his hands covered hers. "You're not wearing a robe, aren't you cold?"
"No." Lois shook her head because it was true; he was keeping her warm. And she sighed contentedly when she felt his lips on the backs of her fingers as he kissed them softly.
"You should be sleeping." His voice was quiet.
"So should you." She rubbed her cheek against the warm fabric of his tee shirt. "You have to be on a train in a few hours."
"It's almost over." He sounded tired as he gripped her hands.
Hadn't she said the same thing earlier that evening?
"Nothing's over Clark." She tried to reassure him with his own words and a squeeze of her fingers. "You're the one who said that, remember?"
Lois felt his shoulders hunch together and she could hear the resignation in his voice. "I've been standing here, thinking about that meeting. And I haven't been able to shake the feeling that it's going to get me sent back to Washington."
"If it does, then it does." How was it that their roles had reversed and now she was the one trying to reassure him? "There's this invention called the telephone, you know."
"We'll be lucky if we get two minutes on a long distance line."
"Well it's better than no communication at all." She tried to reason with him. "And there are these things called letters."
It was so strange to hear the uncertainty in his voice because he was usually so certain about everything. But he hadn't declared himself to her before and their situation was so new and fragile that he might be concerned that a separation would prove their feelings just as fragile.
"What are you so worried about?" She asked him curiously.
"When I go back to Washington, that means that I have to leave you and I don't know if I can do that." Lois felt his grip on her hands tighten.
"You aren't leaving me Clark, not really." She needed him to understand that as she snuggled against him.
He began to rub his thumbs across her fingers again and when he finally nodded, she hoped that she'd gotten through to him. "That's because I'll be leaving my heart behind."
Lois smiled at his admission and rubbed her cheek against his back again. "Then you've got nothing to be worried about." Because he'd be taking hers with him, as well.
He took a deep breath and she sensed he wanted to say something, but didn't quite know how. "Unless you would consider coming with me?"
Was he serious?
Her heart began to beat unsteadily because there were so many ways she could take his question. "If I did, what would our living arrangements be?" She asked him bluntly, knowing he wouldn't expect anything less from her.
Clark pushed her hands away from him and turned suddenly only to grab her shoulders. His eyes drifted down hesitantly, appraising her lightly clad body and his face reddened with a blush before he met her eyes again. She could see that he was upset and he let her know it. "Is that what you think I meant?"
"It's a fair question." She stood her ground, wanting to hear it from him even as his eyes drifted down again. She should have thought to put her robe on and chastised herself for allowing her nightdress become a distraction. She tucked her fingers under his chin and raised his face, forcing their eyes to meet. "My eyes are up here."
And to her surprise he smiled. "And such pretty eyes they are too."
What a sap, but he was her sap.
"Lois, I didn't mean that. And it surprises me that you would think I did." His arms slipped around her waist as hers wound around his neck. "What I meant was that you could come back, get a job and your own place in a rooming house so at least we could see each other." And he added, as he seemed to realize something. "When I'm in town. It would all be perfectly respectable."
She'd thought earlier that night about asking him if he would consider making his temporary transfer permanent, but couldn't bring herself to actually do it. It felt selfish on her part to ask him to change his whole life just because she asked. But with his suggestion of her joining him in Washington, she thought it was the right time to bring it up.
Because when he left her alone, as he'd surely have to because of the nature of his job, she'd rather be near her father and his parents. Not alone in a city she hadn't seen since the General's year-long tour with the War Department when she was fifteen.
"I could, but wouldn't you be happier if you came back here?" She looked at him. "Your mother told me that you haven't sounded so at ease since you've been home and that makes her happy."
He grinned at her. "If I did come back, what would our living arrangements be?"
"Not this." She smiled back at him.
"Then what's the point?" He laughed and pulled her gently against him. "Because I kind of like this."
She wasn't about to give the satisfaction of agreeing with him and leaned back in his arms. "If you came back, you'd be closer to your parents, too."
His smile softened and he nodded. "That would be another very good reason to come home."
"Just something to think about while you're on that train tomorrow." She shrugged.
"There is something else I'd rather think about on that long trip." He drew her closer and Lois rolled her eyes at him.
"I'm sure there is."
"It'll give you something to think about while I'm gone." His voice dropped to a husky whisper as he pulled her against him. Lois knew immediately that she should have put a stop to the intimate situation she found herself in, with him in his tee shirt and pajama bottoms and she in her nightdress. It was wrong that they were tempting fate as they were but when his head dipped, her eyes closed.
His lips caught hers in a warm caress as his hands began to roam the contours of her back and the gentle motion of both seemed to bring her to him as she kissed him back. And as he continued to draw her closer against him, his body clearly told her where his thoughts were headed.
Clark obviously knew it too because Lois suddenly found herself without the warmth of his body surrounding her and when she opened her eyes, he was back in front of the fireplace. It shouldn't have surprised her as it did, but it had and her face burned with a flush because of it.
She quickly turned for the sofa and grabbed her robe, which she should have done in the first place, pulled it on and cinched the belt before joining him. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head. "I should have known better."
"It's my fault." She wouldn't let him take the blame and sighed before she carefully took his hand in hers. "I was the one who created this situation."
"I wasn't complaining." He glanced down with a bashful smile before pulling his hand out of hers to put his arm around her. "It's just the kind of sendoff a fellow dreams of."
"Something tells me that you were thinking about another kind of sendoff." She teased.
"It did cross my mind." He admitted before his expression sobered. "But I couldn't help but wonder what you would think of me if I let it happen."
It suddenly dawned on Lois why he was being so careful with her, being so much more circumspect then he usually was. He was afraid she would think less of him if she believed he was trying to coax her into his bed when he'd allowed himself to be coaxed into someone else's.
"Our situation is different, Clark." She tried to ease his mind. "And I think you already knew that."
He let go of her and began to pace. "This isn't so much about that as it is about the fact that I've bent and broken more rules than I care to think about.
"As Federal agents, we're supposed to remain professional at all times and that means that we aren't supposed to get personally involved with witnesses. And we sure as hell aren't supposed to bring them home to stay with our families.
"My original plan was to bring you out here only for a day or two until I could arrange to get you to a safe house. But when you hit it off so well with my parents, especially my mother, I couldn't bring myself to move you. And then I managed to get personally involved when I made the mistake of making you a part of my cover. "
"But the Bureau knows that I'm here." Lois watched as he moved back and forth, clearly agitated.
"They do."
And then it struck her. They might not know Clark was there.
"Would it be fair to say that you've been leaving out a crucial detail in your reports on the investigation?"
"You mean the small detail of my being here?" And he stopped mid-pace to fold his arms across his chest.
"What else were you supposed to do?" She didn't quite understand what the problem was.
"What I was supposed to do was disqualify myself from this case when I knew that I was falling for you. I was supposed to contact Washington and tell them that they needed to send another agent back to finish the case because I couldn't be objective about it. That's what I was supposed to do."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because then I would have had to tell them why I'd lost my objectivity." He explained to her. "And it would have meant that I'd have to admit to breaking the cardinal rule of being a Federal agent; I forgot that I was a Federal agent. "
"How much trouble could you get into if they find out?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "But if this meeting does send me back, it won't matter."
"What on earth are the two of you doing up at this hour?" Lois turned toward the low voice of Clark's mother and saw her standing at the bottom of the stairs. "It's nearly three o'clock."
"I'm sorry if we woke you up, Mom." Clark apologized to her. "I couldn't sleep."
"So because you couldn't sleep you woke up Lois?" She walked into the parlor and came to a stop in front of them.
"He didn't mean wake me up, Mrs. Kent." Lois took a step forward; ready to defend him "He was trying to be quiet."
"And I can see how successful that was." She was trying not to smile and that made Lois want to smile. "Clark, I don't suppose I need to remind you that you're train leaves Smallville at 8:15? Which means that you and your dad have to be out of the house by 7:45."
"I'm all packed and ready to go." Lois heard Clark's voice behind her.
"So what do you plan on doing? Staying up for the rest of the night?" Mrs. Kent folded her arms across her chest and it startled Lois to see Clark in her stance.
"I can sleep on the train." He sounded a little defensive and she could almost see him hunching up his shoulders.
"Or you can go back upstairs and get a few hours of sleep and let Lois get back to sleep, too." She raised her eyebrows and seemed to dare her son to argue with her.
"Or I could let Lois go back upstairs and I'll stay down here on the sofa." He answered his mother's challenge and to Lois' surprise, Mrs. Kent rolled her eyes.
It was then she knew that she and Clark's mother had been spending too much time together.
It was time for her to go home.
"Clark." She was beginning to sound exasperated with her only son, so Lois stepped in.
"It's all right, Mrs. Kent. If Clark wants to give up his nice comfortable bed for the sofa, I won't argue with him."
She frowned. "Are you sure it's all right?"
Lois nodded. "Besides, I think that's why he couldn't sleep, he missed the sofa."
"I'm sure that's the reason, honey." Mrs. Kent laughed softly. "Well, I came down for a glass of water so while I'm doing that, Lois can go upstairs. It's much too late for any of us to be up."
"Goodnight, Mrs. Kent." Lois headed out of the parlor as Clark's mother walked toward the kitchen.
"Goodnight, Lois." She answered.
As Lois started up the stairs, she saw Clark glance out into the kitchen before he made a beeline for the staircase. She stopped mid-ascent and waited for him. "Nice maneuver, Agent Kent."
"What?" He tried to plaster a look of innocence on his face, but she knew better.
"Don't look at me like that, you know exactly what I'm talking about." She smiled at him. "You gave me your room so that you could come up and say goodbye before you leave."
"Lois, did it ever occur to you that I was just trying to be a gentleman?" He grinned.
"No." She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Because the last couple of times you've been in that room with me, you've been slightly less than a gentleman."
"You could always lock the door."
"I could. But if I did, then you wouldn't be able to come say goodbye." Lois ran a hand down his cheek. "In the meantime, I need to say goodnight."
"Sleep well." He grasped her hand and held it in his for a moment.
"You too." She replied as he let her go and turned back down the stairs. Lois turned back up, continued down the hallway and into Clark's room.
She closed the door behind her and his bedside lamp was on. The blankets were tossed back and she could see the rumpled sheets where his restless body had tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position so that he could find rest.
Lois stood at the side of the bed, hesitating to get in. She'd slept in his bed nearly every night for close to three weeks, but this was the first time he'd slept in it. She was again struck with how intimate the situation was because she would be lying where he'd been.
It's just a bed, Lois. She told herself as she pulled her robe off and tossed it on the foot of the bed. It's just his bed.
She drew in a soft breath before she sat down on the edge and slipped underneath the sheet and blankets. She turned off the lamp and when she settled into bed, the sheets were cold against her body. But as she closed her eyes and burrowed in, she imagined that his arms were around her and was able to find the rest that had eluded him.
oooooo
Lois didn't know what time it was when she heard the door open and she rolled over, knowing who it was.
Sure enough, Clark slipped through the door and closed it quietly behind him and walked toward the bed, looking surprised that she was awake.
"I don't know why you insist on sneaking in here. Your parents know where you are." She didn't quite have her voice and thought she sounded like a bullfrog.
He was already dressed and the only thing missing was his suit jacket. She'd wager it was hanging on the back of a kitchen chair, waiting until he finished with breakfast.
"I'm not sneaking." He smiled at her as he sat down. "I told them that I was coming up to say goodbye and Mom said not to take too long or my eggs would get cold."
"Ever the pragmatist, your mother."
"Have you forgotten about all of those starving kids in China already?"
"You haven't, apparently."
"Only because you were the one that mentioned it in the first place."
"So I did."
The banter came so easily to them now, that it had become second nature. And she couldn't help but wonder if they'd have the chance to banter together again.
"This isn't goodbye Lois, not by a long shot." He seemed to have regained his confidence as he brushed back her hair. "I like doing that."
"I know you do." She reached up to run her hand down his cheek. "I like doing that too."
A light flush spread across his face as his smile softened. "I know you do."
"You'd better get back downstairs." She sighed as she glanced over at the bedside clock; it was 7:20. "You don't have much time."
"You wouldn't consider coming to the station, would you?" He took her hand in his, to persuade her and it wasn't going to work.
"And get out of this nice warm bed to go out in that bitter cold? I don't think so." She feigned a frown.
"Not even for me?" He grinned mischievously.
"I wouldn't do it for President Roosevelt." She laughed.
"Now there's a backhanded compliment, if ever I heard one." He shook his head.
"There was nothing backhanded about it, buster. Now kiss me and get out of here before your mother comes looking for you."
"As soon as I know something, I'll call you." He deflected her request, as he seemed to stall for time.
"And waste two whole minutes?" Lois shook her head. "Just wait until you get home to drop the bomb."
"Will do." He nodded.
"Clark?"
"Hmm?"
"You need to go now, that train won't wait."
He nodded again. "I know."
"Well then?" If he didn't look so serious, Lois would have been sorely tempted to laugh. But it seemed to give him the encouragement he needed because he leaned over and kissed her. She wanted so much to put her arms around his neck and kiss him back, but he needed to get back downstairs.
"I'll be back in a few days." He sat up and he was smiling.
"I'll be here." She smiled back.
He seemed reluctant to stand up, but he finally did and walked to the bedroom door before he turned back to look at her. "Are you sure you won't come to the station?"
"Would you go?" She told him as she pointed toward the door.
"I'm going." He sighed dramatically and opened the door.
"Have a safe trip." She called after him softly.
He stepped out into the hall and turned around. "I will; now go back to sleep. And Lois?"
"What?"
"Just remember that I didn't wake you up this time." He grinned just before he closed the door.
Not this time. Lois smiled as she closed her eyes and slowly drifted back to sleep.