Chapter 26
Superman was high over Suicide Slums directing his heat vision at the guns of assorted gang members who were descending upon an unsuspecting Green Arrow. With great relief, he saw that the police were beginning to arrive on the scene, and Oliver was now dispatching, with a little too much pleasure, the last four guys who were not nursing burned hands.
With the problem solved, he was now free to reach into the pouch of his cape and grab the vibrating phone he'd hidden there.
"About time! Why didn't you answer?"
"Hi, to you too, Lois. I was kind of busy."
"Where are you?"
"About 8th and Elm."
"What I mean is why are you not here? You can't just leave like that. I mean, you can't just—"
"Lois, it's past midnight. We both have a big day tomorrow and you need some sleep."
"How do you expect me to sleep after finding out—?"
"Lois! Cell phones aren't exactly the most private ways to communicate. Watch what you say."
"Oh, right. Right. OOoooo!" He smiled because he knew she was choking the receiver. Then he heard her sigh. "You're not coming back here tonight, are you?"
He paused before answering. "I don't think that's such a good—"
"But we need to— Scratch that, I need to talk."
There was a long pause before he said, "Lois, open your window."
"What?"
"Open your window."
Lois breathed out heavily. This was going to take some getting used to all right. She went to the window and looked out, but didn't see anything but street lights below her and black sky above her. He wasn't there, but she did as he asked and opened it anyway before going back to the phone.
"Smallville, are you—"
Whoosh!
He was there, standing in front of her, resplendent in those primary colors, still with his cell phone in his hand. They lowered their phones and, suddenly, she felt a wave of shyness wash over her. This wasn't Clark or her Smallville. This was Superman, the hero of Metropolis. Heck, the hero of the whole world now.
His head tilted to the side and he looked worried. "Lois, not you? Don't look at me like that."
"It's…I…oh, no." She shut her eyes. "Clark, I'm sorry. I—"
"I thought those two words were off limits. Lois, you seem…nervous. It's just me."
"I'm not nervous. Okay? It's just that you told me about this," she gestured towards his chest, "and you said, or rather didn't say, the 'L' word, but you said 'yet' and then just a little peck on the mouth, and you left, and—" She crossed her arms in front of her. "Clark, you're just going to have to take that off right now."
"What?"
"That costume, that suit, that outfit, the thing, whatever you call it. Take it off!" She waved her arm at him. "That 'S' is a more than a little distracting, not to mention that that really shows off just about everything that apparently you've decided I'm not allowed to touch until—"
"Okay, okay." There was another whoosh that whipped at her hair, and he was standing there in the shirt and pants he had worn earlier. "I left my jacket here, didn't I?"
"What? Yeah…it's on the couch. Smallville, how did you do that?"
"Oh," he smiled disarmingly, as only he could, "I figured out a way to compress the fabric into a little cube that I can carry around in the pouch mom put in the cape. Same principle as those plastic bags for clothes, only I think when I use my breath as a vacuum it goes down to a molecular level or something, because I can get things, even the leather shoes, really, really small, and—"
Holding up both hands in surrender, Lois shook her head as if clearing away the cobwebs. "Smallville, you are amazing. I'm feeling totally, unbelievably inadequate right now."
"Lois, you shouldn't—"
"Well, I do. And if we don't level the playing field here,—"
"Level the," he began, parroting her words and frowning. "Lois, I don't know what you—"
"Okay, Smallville, I'll enlighten you. For instance, when you were here before, I hugged you. But you didn't hug me. See? Now that's just not right."
He grinned. "What are you talking about? I hugged you back. I remember distinctly."
"Not the same, buster. You see, I did this," she said, as she moved closer and slipped her arms around his neck.
"And I did this," he said, as he placed one hand on her upper back and the other around her waist.
"See, that's not a true hug. That's a reciprocal hug, not an initiatory hug."
Clark grinned. "Lois, you're making up words again."
"Yeah, the editors complain about that all the time," she smiled up at him.
"So if this hug isn't acceptable, what's a guy to do?"
"It's all in the arms." She stepped back, took his hands in hers, and guided them to her shoulders. "Now you just bring your arms back around, and I put mine here," she said as she reached around his waist. "Now, that's you hugging me. Nice, huh?"
"Very," he said, looking down at her seriously. Then he laughed. "And it's not going to work." He stepped back, but took her hands. "Lois, the decision to wait is not negotiable. And I really don't want to see that highly made-up face tomorrow like when you're trying to cover up dark circles around your eyes. You need some sleep." He started toward the bedroom.
"All right!" Who said it didn't work?
But her smile faded when, instead of heading for the bed, Clark went into her bathroom and began searching her medicine cabinet.
"Here. This should help you sleep. Take some."
"Cough syrup?" She rolled her eyes. "Coughing is not my problem right now," she said as her fingers found the buttons on his shirt momentarily, until he stepped back from her.
"But you said this stuff made you really sleepy when you got it for that cold you had a while back. So take a dose now. That brain of yours is probably going to be like the Energizer bunny tonight unless you do."
"Smallville, if you'd—"
"Not gonna happen, Lane. Please?"
And there were those puppy dog eyes staring at her. She knew she had no choice.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, all right. Give it to me."
Almost as soon as the bottle touched her hands, her hair was stirred by another brief gust of wind and he was standing there with a teaspoon and a glass of water for her.
"But you're not playing fair!"
His mouth dropped open, and he said, "I'm not playing fair?" He watched her make a face at him as she downed the foul tasting liquid. "And, Lois, that is a tsp."
"A what?"
"A teaspoon? The abbreviation 'tsp'? I think you probably got it confused with a tablespoon, or 'tbs,' which is three times as much." Seeing the surprise on her face, he leaned down and kissed her quickly, before she could wash down the medicine with the water. "Ugh, that does taste bad." Then he quickly added, "I meant the cough syrup. I've never had any before."
"I know you did." She smiled. "Yet you swallowed a whole bite of that horrible beef dish tonight, which was far, far worse than this. You get major points for that, Smallville."
He turned his head as if listening to something. "Remember that, because, Lois, I have to go. Now!"
And he was gone again.