Chapter 29

Next day

Lois looked over the grounds of the backyard with pleasure "You said the owners were interested in selling the house."

"Yeah, but as it's been on the market for awhile now, and they haven't had any respectable offers, they were happy to rent it out so that it wasn't left vacant." Clark smiled at seeing Fred gambolling and frolicking on the lawn "Apparently the owners aren't hurting for money, so when the realtor contacted them on my behalf, and told them that I wanted to rent with the option of buying in the future depending on whether you like it, they said yes."

Lois nodded, turned to view the house, turned in a circle to view the grounds and thought that her boyfriend had found one hell of a house "Ok, well first we need to give it a good look-see. I figure that given the size of the yard that we're relatively safe, but can you fly up as Superman and take a quick squiz to make sure that no one can see us down here, or you while you're up there."

Clark nodded, checked around carefully and quickly spun into the suit before lifting up. After looking around with x-ray and tuning his hearing in all directions he floated back down "We're good babe; there are houses either side and in back, but no one can see us down here. More than likely they will see me if I'm on the roof, but at the moment everyone is either asleep, or not at home."

"Then it's a good thing we're here so early on a Sunday morning...." Lois smiled cheerfully and pointed upwards "...because the first thing I want you to do is fly up there and check out the guttering, and then make sure the roof is even and straight. The last thing we need is a sagging or uneven roof line which could be a major worry. Also check out the roof tiles, make sure they're not broken or displaced, and while you're up there check out the timber cladding for rot, while I look around down here."

"Be careful of your arm Lo." He cautioned and zipped up to inspect everything Lois had told him to, then also did a sweep with his x-ray vision under the roof, the tiles, the timber and through the walls to ensure there was no termite activity, or hidden rot that couldn't be detected with the naked eye. Coming back down, he spun out of the suit, looked at the ground and x-rayed around before joining his girlfriend as she continued to inspect the windows and the base of the house.

"Well it looks like the owners have kept this place in good condition; how'd you go?" Lois grasped onto Clark's proffered hand and stood.

"The same, I checked everything you mentioned, plus I also x-rayed to ensure there was no rotting underneath that couldn't be seen. Oh, and as there are quite a few trees, I also thought it couldn't hurt to look under the ground to ensure the roots either aren't now, or weren't going to get into the pipes, which as you know can also cause major problems."

"Good thinking." She smiled in approval.

Keeping her hand clasped in his, Clark steered them to the path, walked towards the house, and climbed the stairs coming to a stop on the porch.

"What time is the realtor coming to take us through?"

He took a quick look at his watch "She won't be here for another hour babe. As you know I dropped in and saw her late yesterday afternoon, and told her that if you liked the house, we wanted to buy it instead of renting. However, as I didn't want her to see Superman flying his girlfriend and her dog in, I asked her if we could look around privately first, and she said yes." He dug into his pocket, pulled out the keys and jiggled them happily "She also gave me these."

Lois smiled slowly "Very clever and sneaky."

He grinned unashamed, stepped forward to unlock the door, then stepped aside for her to enter. Turning he whistled to Fred and followed the mutt into the house.

Lois opened the backpack she'd brought, dug out her pad and pen, handed the spirit level, torch and screwdriver to Clark and began her inspection. They moved from room to room looking around carefully, taking in everything before climbing the stairs to the second floor, and once again stepped into each room to look them over fastidiously. Their footsteps echoed loudly as they moved through the house. Everything was inspected and checked; taps and showers were turned on, toilets flushed, windows and doors opened and closed, lights switched on and off, closets inspected for space, walls and floor tiles were tapped, floors checked to ensure they were level, ceilings examined for bulges, hands held in front of vents checking for good air flow. Clark trailed behind Lois enjoying the intense concentration on her face, examining anything that she wanted him to, and almost laughed out loud when she called out "Remind me to jump up and down on the front veranda later ok?"

"Sure baby." His smile grew wider when she stepped into the master bedroom and came to a full stop. He knew this room would capture her, if nothing else did, this one would.

At the sight of the stained and leaded art glass double doors at the head of the room, Lois smiled in delight. Stepping over quickly, she unlocked the doors, pushed them open, and felt her smile hitch up before stepping outside onto the small balcony to look over the back yard.

Stepping through the door, and slipping one arm around her waist Clark looked over the yard then turned to her "What'd you think?"

"I think this is the most beautiful house you could have found." She pressed her head against his chest and leant back for a moment before swinging around "I can't believe you were only intending to live here every weekend; correction on the weekend of every third month."

When she began to shiver slightly from the cold, he urged her back into the room and shut the doors "Yeah, but it would have been perfect for our needs Lo. You could have pottered away to your heart's content in the garden, and Fred would have enjoyed all that open space, so even for a few days every now and again it would have been perfect."

"But it seems such a shame that it was only going to be used rarely, and left vacant for most of the time."

"It was only going to be until I could coax you into moving here permanently." He reminded her candidly, and grinned at her answering gurgle. Reaching up, he rubbed lightly at the smudges of dust on her forehead and cheeks before pressing a kiss to her hair "No matter how beautiful this house is Lo, as you pointed out yesterday, it's only bricks and mortar. It's you and Fred that will make it a home, and I'm not interested in living anywhere unless you're there too." He told her sincerely.

"You're only partially right; no matter where the three of us live, together we'll all make it home." She corrected firmly.

"Yeah" He agreed in a voice full of satisfaction "So what'd you think, should we make an offer or do you wanna look around some more?"

"I think we should make an offer."

He slipped his arms around her waist, picked her up to bring her face level with his and smiled into her eyes "Really."

"Really and truly; you've found possibly the only house that I'll be happy to leave our other one for." She grinned happily.

Leaning forward to capture her lips in a soft kiss, he lifted his head a moment later and grinned "Do you wanna jump and down on the porch first before deciding for sure?"

"I'll still do that, but if there's a problem with it, we'll just negotiate to have the repairs taken off the sale price." She returned readily and opened her mouth to make another remark, but ended by frowning "Where's Fred?"

Clark's brow wrinkled, and after setting her down the two stepped out of the room, and found the dog with his nose down sniffing the floor of the room next door. When he sneezed at a dustball, then proceeded to once again trod around sniffing and scrutinising before planting his tail on the ground beside them and barking, they smiled in return.

"I think he's found the room that he wants." Clark replied dryly.

Lois shook her head "Freddy, this is not supposed to be your room; you're a dog so you don't get a bedroom."

"Don't tell him that Lo." Clark admonished in mock anger.

"What, that he doesn't get his own bedroom?"

"No, that he's a dog." He replied reaching over to pat the mutt "There are three bedrooms other than the master, so he can have his own room."

"Forget it; he sleeps in his doggy bed in the laundry." She returned swiftly.

"The laundry's downstairs." He reminded her pointedly.

"He'll survive." She replied deadpan.

"I thought women were supposed to be soft hearted creatures?" He grumbled and continued stroking the dog's head while looking at her reproachfully.

"We have to be the practical one's because men don't have the guts to be the bad guys." She smiled undaunted.

Clark huffed and looked down at the animal "It's ok Fred, when it storms you can still crawl into our room, and she won't kick you out then."

"Storms are different." Lois conceded graciously.

"If you had any womanly compassion you wouldn't shunt him away downstairs, making him feel abandoned." Clark admonished gently.

"If you feel that strongly about it...." She sighed heavily and when he looked at her hopefully, she finished placidly "Then maybe you can sleep in the laundry with him."

He looked down at the mutt, and shrugged apologetically before stepping over to slip his arms around her waist "How about a compromise, he can sleep up here in a corner somewhere."

She rolled her eyes "He's not sleeping in any corners, but how about we put his doggy bed at the end of the hallway up here so that he's close to us, will that be alright?"

He grinned and nodded "Yep, and since I'm not going to bamboozle you anymore, I might as well confess that I'd already discussed that idea with Fred on the flight over here."

Not giving her time to respond, he captured her lips with his, and when her mouth opened at his urging, his tongue slipped inside to stroke and joust softly with hers. Lips moulded, and firmed as the kiss became harder, deeper; mouths lifted briefly, changed angles and came back together again.

At the cough from the doorway, they broke apart, turned around and smiled sheepishly at the realtor.

The lady waved her hand "I'm sorry for interrupting. I promise that I wouldn't have it wasn't necessary, but you didn't hear my call downstairs, so I came up here. When I saw you both, I walked away for a minute but when I came back, I realised that I had to interrupt or I might not get back to the office anytime soon."

Lois flushed and giggled "Sorry."

"Oh honey don't be; if I had a man kissing me like that, I wouldn't be paying any attention to what was happening around me either." She stepped forward, and shook Clark's hand then turned as he began introductions.

"Lo this is Sherry Doyle; Sherry my girlfriend Lois Lane." Sherry shook the outstretched hand, then pointed to the arm in the cast "Broken arm?"

"Wrist; I had a car accident a few weeks ago." She smiled liking the woman immediately.

"So what's a bigger pain; dealing with the insurance company to get the car fixed, dealing with the insurance company regarding your medical bills, or trying to have a shower with only one good arm?" Sherry asked with smile.

Lois groaned and shook her head "Don't even get me started."

"Well it's the left arm that's out of commission, so that's good news."

"Not so good since I'm left handed." Lois returned with a slight eye roll.

Sherry grinned in appreciation, then cocked her head at the mountain of fur who was huffing at being ignored "So this is must be Fred, and I can see why you need a fairly comfortable place to house him in." She reached out her hand then pulled it back before looking at them "Will he let me pat him?"

Clark nodded "He's fine if he knows you, or if we're around so go ahead."

She reached out, stroked his head then giggled when he snuffled into her hand "Comely little fellow isn't he?"

"Comely yes; little no." Lois corrected with a smile.

After a last pat of the dog's head, Sherry gave them her full attention "Ok, so would you like me to walk you through the house? I know we've already done that Clark, but I'm happy to do so again and give you a full run down Lois."

She shook her head in reply "I've already had a good look around and I like what I see, but as I'm not qualified I'd like to get a professional building and pest inspection done, also an appraisal of the property. If all that works out, then we just need to work out the price. Can you tell me what the owners are asking?"

Sherry nodded, opened her folder and after a quick verification, gave them the asking price.

"Ok, well we can discuss the price later, but first we'll organise the inspections and see what they say. If work needs to be done, then either the owners have to get it done without charging us for it, or the amount it will cost to repair has to come off the price we agree on for the house." Lois replied forthrightly.

"That seems fair enough but I don't think you'll find any problems." The realtor took a spec sheet out of the folder and handed it to Clark "The owners had some work done less than three years ago so ...."

Lois looked at the sheet in his hand and nodded before looking at the realtor once again "Why would they get all this work done only to sell the house so soon afterwards?"

"Work, the husband was offered a position that was too good to refuse in LA, so the family moved, and the house is for sale."

"Ok, well Clark and I will get the ball rolling and ask the inspectors to contact you when they need to look around, is that ok?"

"That's fine." She nodded agreeably.

Walking out of the house, the three people and dog stood on the porch talking for a few more minutes before turning to part ways. Stopping half way to her car, the realtor turned back "Um, I don't see a vehicle, would you like me to drop you off somewhere?"

"Thanks Sherry, but we're going to stroll around the riverfront market for a while." When she looked doubtfully at the mutt, Clark laughed "He's ok, a friend of ours only lives a few blocks away and has offered to babysit for a couple of hours."

"Ok, well I look forward to hearing from you; or the inspectors soon." With a wave, she got in the car, tooted the horn and drove off.

"Do you want me to drop you at the markets before I take Fred home Lo?"

"Nah, I'll just wait here until you get back; but can you take my bag and dump it at home. Only bring back my wallet, no on second thought, bring the bag as well, because we might find stuff at the markets that we want." He nodded, slung the backpack over his arms, picked up the dog and floated upwards. His laughter rang out when he looked down to find his girlfriend jumping up and down on the porch like a mad woman.

Lois looked up, shaded her eyes and waved airily then continued bouncing around on the floorboards until satisfied, after which she made herself comfortable on the top step waiting for her taxi to return.

***

Later that night

Clark stepped out of the shower behind Lois, unwrapped the plastic bag encasing the cast and grabbed a towel from the rack. When she held out her hand, he just smiled and proceeded to wipe her down carefully, before wrapping her in it, then grabbed a second towel to swipe over himself. Once dry, he tossed it negligently into the laundry basket, scooped her up in his arms and strode back into the bedroom.

Placing her on the stool in front of the dresser, he stood behind rifling his fingers through the damp strands of her hair, as his heat vision waved back and forth until her hair was dry. When Lois picked up the brush, he gently took it from her hand, placed it back down, and proceeded to finger comb her hair, before running fingertips and palms over her scalp caressing and massaging gently. Picking up the brush again, he ran it through the tresses until it lay like a gleaming soft curtain falling just past her shoulders and framing her face.

Tilting her head backwards, he bent down and pecked her lips with his before waving his hand at the assortment of creams, and lotions on the dressing table "Which one do you use after your shower babe?"

Her lips lifted in a half smile, and pointing to the appropriate bottle she wasn't surprised when he scooped it up, turned her around and poured a generous amount in his palm. Squatting down in front, he began to smooth the lotion over her body starting at her feet and working upwards.

"Are you trying to seduce me?"

"Yes." He replied honestly then shrugged "But I also know that you're somewhat limited with your cast, so this is me also being helpful."

"Thank you." Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss to the top of his head then giggled when he lifted his face and puckered up his lips.

Once finished he stood up, and zipped to the bed to pull back the covers then returned to scoop her up into his arms again. Taking a seat on the side, he cradled her in his lap and rubbed one hand over the small of her back "How sleepy are you?"

"Terribly." Lois fake yawned, but at his pout, she gave into the smile trembling on her lips "I'm not sleepy at all; and yes I want to."

Smiling, he tugged off her towel and tossed it aside, before lying down with her at his side. Leaning forward, he touched his lips to one edge of Lois' mouth then the other, but at the anticipation on her face, he shook his head slowly in rebuttal "Nu uh, we're not going to rush; it's been three weeks since we last made love, and I intend to savour every last bit of it."

"There were a couple of times when your mom wasn't at home when we could have, but you wanted to wait." She murmured reproachfully.

"Mmm hmm, I wanted to ensure that you were completely healed." He lifted the arm encased in the cast, and drifted his lips upwards until he reached her shoulder "This is the only thing that still shows." He laid her arm back down, cupped her face in his hands and captured her eyes with his "Are you sure that you're not still even a little bit sore Lo?"

"I'm sure."

"What about your ribs?"

"They're fine."

He nodded minutely ran his fingertips gently over the area where the cut had been high on her arm, and saw the red scar that was the only reminder it had ever been there "What about this?"

"It's a little tender but that's all; so unless you intend to give it a good thump it, I'll be alright." She laughed quietly.

He pressed his lips to the scar, before tailing them up the side of her neck, to her ear "I don't intend to do that." He whispered and not giving her time to answer pressed his lips against hers fleetingly, pressed again for a little longer, then a little bit longer again before sealing their lips together.

His arms wrapped around her waist, her good arm slid around to run her finger tips up and down his spine, causing his muscles to ripple and bunch in pleasure at her touch. His arms tightened fractionally, as lips lifted but never quite parted to change angles before fastening together once again. Tongues duelled slowly, into her mouth, then his and back again, as the kiss went on and on.

Shifting slightly to the side, Clark loosened one arm from around her waist, to smooth his hand up until his palm sat comfortably underneath one breast. His fingers contracted and released around the globe, while his thumb rubbed over and around the bud. When it swelled and hardened he murmured approvingly into her mouth, she purred in return as his thumb continued to stroke over it gently.

When lips parted reluctantly to allow both to breathe deeply, his mouth glided down the column of her throat to her upper chest and down, coming to stop at her breasts. His tongue swabbed over the hardened bud, his thumb stroked over it again, his tongue gave it another gentle wash, his thumb brushed it once more, then his mouth enclosed around the tip and surrounding flesh to suckle softly. Slipping his other arm from under her back, his hand trailed up to the free breast, smoothed over the globe and squeezed gently, before trailing down her torso to her mound to rifle his fingers lazily through the soft curls, before trailing back up to the breast once again. His mouth stayed busy as his hand continued to waltz up and down her body leisurely, leaving a growing fire in its wake.

It had only been three weeks since they last made love, but his hand, his mouth on her body made the past 21 days feel like an eternity since she'd last felt his touch. Her skin felt stretched, too tight, sensitised. His complete concentration on her was ambrosial, and his murmurs of appreciation made her feel like a total sensualist.

His hand finally came to a stop sitting quietly on her mound, her legs opened wider and his palm slid down to compress her sex lightly, as his mouth trailed to her other breast. While his lips and tongue paid homage to one part of her body, his fingers did likewise to another.

He grunted softly in approval at finding wet soft flesh, his fingertips stroked lightly through the folds and crevices softly caressing the heart while his thumb rubbed over the top of her sex. The button hard nubbin filled with blood and swelled with excitement at his ministrations, as the moisture seeped out coating his fingers.

With a last sip his lips released the nipple, and lifting his head, Clark looked at Lois' face and felt his heart turn over. God he loved this woman. He loved seeing her like this; her neck and breasts flushed pink with arousal, her eyes closed, lower lip caught in her teeth, and her face sharp with desire. His heart thumped hard and bloomed with certainty. She was his, and unlike the others who'd came before; he was never letting her go.

Bending down he pressed his lips against hers, slipped his tongue inside when her mouth opened and sealing their lips together, caught her light gasp when he pushed one finger into her opening and began to move it lazily in and out. Her hips began to lift and fall in time with the movement of his finger, a second digit slipped inside to join the first, stroking and stretching her inner tissues softly, while his thumb rubbed over the slippery flesh on the outside.

Lois wrenched her mouth free, and pushed her head down into the pillow, Clark pressed his lips fleetingly against hers, before lifting his head to lock his eyes onto his beloved's face. His fingers moved faster, pushed in deeper, and seeing the desperation for completion on her face, he began to vibrate his fingers, causing her mouth to open in a small o of delighted surprise, before she finally fell over the edge with a breathless pant.

Not giving her time to rest, his lips moved in the valley of her breasts, down her torso, over her tummy; his hands tenderly parted her legs further, and his mouth moved down. Using two fingers, he held her carefully open, and glided his tongue from the top to the bottom of her sex, once then again, the fingers of his free hand rubbed over the moist flesh caressingly before his tongue washed gently over the whole area, skating and stroking, flicking and licking here and there. When her hips began to twitch, he grasped onto her thighs to still her movements, as his tongue bathed the hard nubbin at the top with only the lightest of touches, before slowly sweeping over the core gently and repeatedly, making Lois rumble softly of approval.

While she was coming down from her second less intense journey, Clark moved to lie in the cradle of her thighs, lifted up on his forearms, and pressed forward until his penis was embedded deeply within her channel. Withdrawing slowly, he pushed back inside and began to advance and retreat in a languid dance.

Lois' legs rose up, clasped his hips, her feet caressed the back of his thighs, the fingertips of her casted arm pressed into his back, while the other hand slid down to his bottom to clench her fingers in softly. At his soft hum of pleasure, her lips curved, lashes fluttered up to find his eyes open and on hers. Cupping her face in his hands, their eyes held steady as he continued to move slowly but with ever more deliberation, stroking deeper in and out of her passage; while his chest rasped gently against the stiffened tips of her breasts with every advance and retreat. The intimacy of watching each other, and the exquisite feeling of pleasure, caused their eyes to darken further. Simultaneously, her head lifted, his bent, mouths sealed together, and tongues wove caressingly in tempo until they fell over the edge quietly.

Sitting up on his haunches after, he slipped his arms under her back and lifted her up, wrapping his arms tight around her waist. Her arms hooked over his shoulders in return "Oops sorry."

"For what"

"I just knocked your head with my cast."

"Baby I didn't even feel it." He replied, pressing his lips to her shoulder. Holding her securely with one arm, he tilted up her chin up with his free hand, and stroked his thumb along her jaw line "How many times have we made love Lo?"

"I don't know." She murmured quietly, enjoying the feeling of closeness having him inside her brought, even now when the act was over.

"I can't get enough of you Lois." Pressing a kiss into the hollow of her throat, he lifted his head and locked his eyes onto hers "It doesn't ever seem to be enough."

"Well you certainly try to make it enough." She smiled slightly.

He shook his head lightly "No, no matter how often, no matter how many times, it won't ever be enough." He lifted one hand and swept the hair over her shoulder "When I'm 90 and you're 91, we'll still be making love, and it still won't be enough."

"I doubt we'll still be doing it then." She teased gently.

"Yes we will." He corrected steadily "And it will still be as incredible then as it is now." Keeping his eyes on hers, the hand on jaw slipped around to sit in the middle of her shoulder blades, as his other hand smoothed down her spine to her bottom, glided onto the thigh wrapped around his waist, before lazily making the return journey until it was once again sitting quietly on her back. His other hand then followed the same pattern and likewise swept over her body down the opposite side and back up again "And I'll still love touching you, feeling your skin against mine then as much as I do now." Slipping his hands down he cupped her bottom and swirled his hips gently, stimulating the soft inner flesh of her sex with his penis; enjoying both her light gasp, and the feeling of her liquid warmth embracing his shaft "And I'll still love being inside you, having you wrapped around me both while we make love and afterwards then as much as I do now." Not giving her a chance to speak, he swooped and captured her mouth with his, slipping his tongue inside to glide along hers, enticing and inviting.

Lifting her off him carefully, he lay down with her settled full length on him, as their mouths continued to cling. Tangling the fingers of one hand in her hair, he moved her head to accommodate him, as their tongues and lips continued to caress, and duel lazily with each others. The kiss was soft then hard, changed angles, once, twice. Letting go of her hair, he cupped her face in his hands, lifted his head to press his lips gently against hers a few more times before slipping his arms around her waist, and turning slightly until their bodies lay side by side, with her head resting on the pillow beside his.

His eyes opened to lock onto hers solemnly.

"That was one heck of a kiss." Lois said quietly, lifting her hand to his cheek.

Clark nodded minutely "And that's exactly how we'll still be kissing when I'm 89 and you're 90, or I'm 90 and you're 91." He brushed the hair away from her face and ran this thumb lightly over her bottom lip "I wish we hadn't lost so many years."

She shrugged indifferently "They're gone, so wasting your wishes on them is pointless.

He leant forward to kiss her deeply before lifting his mouth from hers, and smiling in contemplation "They're gone but we still have our whole lives ahead, and I don't know what I'm looking forward to more. Enjoying our journey together, or sitting in our rocking chairs when we're old and grey, reminiscing about our life before I carry you off to bed to make love."

She giggled softly in return "I don't mind being old and grey, but do I at least have my teeth in your little scenario?"

He chuffed out a laugh "Yep, you'll also have wrinkles but I'll love them too." He reached down to capture her hand, inter-linking his fingers with those in her cast.

"Baby."

"Hmm."

"Do you want children?"

"I don't know." She answered truthfully, before turning the question to him "Do you?"

"I don't know if I can have them." He told her honestly.

She sighed and squeezed his fingers "Well we're quite a pair aren't we?"

"I guess I just assumed that all women wanted children."

"You assumed wrong." She smiled gently "Not all women want children, anymore than all men want them. Some women; myself included don't know if they do or not, others know definitively they don't, while still others feel incomplete without them. In truth having children isn't something that I've ever thought about, neither have I ever felt the fabled biological clock ticking syndrome."

"Really?"

"Really."

"But if we do decide to have children, and then find out that we can't...." He trailed off when her fingers pressed against his lips.

"If we can't then it won't necessarily be because of you. It could be me, it could be our different physiology that makes it impossible, but let's take a leaf out of your book, and say that we will be together for the rest of our lives..." He interrupted to press a quick smiling kiss to her lips. She grinned and continued "If we have children I'll be happy, if we don't I'll be happy. But if we do, then one day they'll leave to make a life of their own anyway which is just as it should be. So at the end of the day whether we have them or not, it will still come back to us; just you and me together, as we first started."

He swallowed the lump in his throat, hugged her tight and pressed his face into her hair "You and me; I love the sound of that."

"That's because you're a big sap." She chuckled lightly.

He kissed her neck and leant back to grin "Yeah, but there is one thing I insist on Lo."

At the twinkle in his eyes, she cocked her brow and waited patiently.

"We may or may not have children, but we should make sure that we get in plenty of practice in the baby making process. We need to guarantee that we're doing it right, otherwise if we do decide to have them, our chances are slim to none of achieving success if we're doing it wrong from the very beginning and don't even realise it." He informed her seriously.

She guffawed in return "That's your argument for us to have plenty of sex?"

"We already have plenty, but it's not enough. I think a wealth of experience would increase our chances enormously." He replied while his eyes continued to twinkle, and his chin quivered.

She held back the chuckle and heaved out a long drawn out put upon sigh "Fiiiine; if we have to then I guess I'll just have to endure the hardship."

"I love the way you endure." He smirked readily.

"I love your hardship." She smirked in return.

Unable to hold it in any longer, they chortled out loud, before their mirth calmed and they lay looking at each other.

Clark smiled softly at his love. She was scared of trusting her heart, and getting it wrong once again, but somewhere deep inside she knew their relationship was right. She was willing to uproot her whole life and move to Metropolis, she could talk about them having children, growing old together, and even suggest taking 20 years to pay off a house if he didn't want her to pay for it. She knew this time it was real; she just wasn't ready to trust herself, but one day she would believe just as he did.

Lois' lips lifted at the smile in his eyes, she hoped that this time she had gotten it right, that this man was the one she would grow old with. She could see them in their rocking chairs reminiscing about the olden days. Her comfortably plump, Clark drifting off to sleep, then waking up and insisting that all he'd been doing was resting his eyes, before continuing to reminisce about when they young. That was a long way down the road but she could see it, and hoped that one day it would come true.