Thank you guys so much for your continued support! (: It means the world to me to have such wonderful readers!

I did want to address a concern pointed out to me by a guest reviewer in that Will and Lou's relationship seemed borderline perfect. It by no means is. I just don't wish to write about their problems. I feel this story has had enough angst as it is, and I want to leave them with a bright future. I know it may seem as if relationships like that don't exist when so many of us struggle to find someone we feel good with. But let me assure you they do, and better than those as well. Are they rare? Yes. But that it what makes them so special. The reality is that the odds of us experiencing or knowing about one of them close to us is scarce. But what is fanfiction if not a way to escape reality and find hope in those scarce odds?

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 38

"What do you think?" I asked her as she brought the sample near her nostrils and took a whiff.

I watched her eyebrows momentarily constrict, but within milliseconds, she had schooled her expressions into one of fake agreeableness.

"It's lovely" she said with a smile I knew she was faking. It didn't quite reach her eyes that were bulging out excessively.

"You hate it, Clark" I said with a bit of shock.

"No, it's really lovely. Let's get it" she said feigning excitement, almost jumping in place.

I chuckled at her eagerness to not disappoint me, but I wasn't about to make her buy a scent she didn't enjoy just so I could smell it on her.

"No" I said determined, handing the bottle back to the store associate.

"I thought you always liked it for me" she replied as she looked at the young man take Papillons Estrême and placing it behind the clear glass.

"I thought it would smell great on you. Admit it, Clark. You hate it" I pushed as I walked past her to look at other possibilities. We had walked into L'Artisan Parfumeur to get her a perfume, and we were going to walk out with one. "Excusez-moi" I said to the attendant as my eyes landed on the one I felt she would love. "Laisse-nous essayer Annick Goutal's Eau d'Hadrien" I added as he came closer.

I watched him raise his eyebrows at me as he slowly opened the delicate gold detailed glass door, took out the small glass dome, and opened it with precise movements. A few seconds later, he was handing us the scented handkerchief and I passed it along to Lou.

"Do you know this one?" she asked me as she took it in her hand and brought it closer to her nose.

I didn't answer. I just watched her face. I wanted to see her reaction. Of course, I could be wrong again. But I had a feeling she would take to this one.

I watched her eyes close, and remain close, as she inhaled a breath, and froze. I watched her lashes squirm against her cheeks, and her eyebrows lift high in her forehead, her skin rolling into the prematurely set wrinkles from her larger-than-life facial expressions. Her lips opened slightly, her shoulders raised, and after a few seconds, she let out a satisfying sigh.

I felt a haughty smile pull at the corners of my lips, and I let it.

Seeing her react to the scent in actual enjoyment was worth the disappointment of her disliking the perfume I had originally thought she would wear so well.

"Will, this is amazing!" she exclaimed, her voice getting higher with each consonant she pronounced.

I chuckled, pleased, and gestured to the man, whose name tag I noticed said 'Jean', to take it to the register.

"I love it so much! It's smells amazing!" she said excitedly, as I watched her smile transform her entire face, eyes and all, and I brought my arm across her shoulders, pulling her to me, and kissing the top of her forehead, making sure not to mess her intricate braid and butterfly pins hairstyle.

I noted, as I had of recent, how pleasing it was to have someone so much smaller than yourself. I had always been one to look for long skinny legs. They were so elegant and beautiful. But Louisa's were shorter and fuller than my other girlfriends'. And, to my pleasant surprise, they were just as pleasing, if not more, than any other's.

It also was inexplicably satisfying to watch her stand on her tip toes to kiss me, and surprisingly untroublesome to bend down for her, when her heels weren't tall enough to facilitate it.

It had been a month since I had been officially fully recovered, and I had been making the arrangements for this trip ever since. Paris was one of my favorite cities in the world, and I was impatient to show it to Lou. She pretended she was happy with a simple life, and I believe if her sister hadn't forced them to, she may never have left that claustrophobic little town we both called home.

But there was a hunger in her. A fearlessness, I could see it.

I saw it awaken the first time she closed her first deal. I saw it surface, from where she had buried it, like most people do. And I wanted to be her freedom, to be that push she needed to live as boldly as she liked, and experience the exhilaration of her possibilities, expand her incredibly clever mind to its limits.

I could tell even now, she thought less of herself than she should. She saw me, and felt lower because her education was more limited. And I meant to fix that, if she let me.

"So, now we are going to the famous Café Marquis?" she asked me as we walked hand in hand.

"Only famous to me, but yes. It's a little-known secret, but they do have the most delectable croissants in all of France" I said to her, trying to express just how wonderful they were.

"Oh, and you've tried them all, haven't you?" she asked with a shake of her head, and fluttering of her eyes.

I looked down at her, amused by her, and enraptured in those red lips.

"Aren't you cheeky today?" I finally replied, wondering to myself just how much lipstick I would get on myself if I kissed her right now. "That does smell fantastic on you, Clark" I added, as the gentle breeze carried the scent from her neck up my nostrils.

I watched her giggle, and look down in embarrassment- a gentle pink covering her cheeks.

I took a look around me, taking in the moment, walking in my favorite street of my favorite city in the world, the smell of freshly baked croissants reaching me, mixed with the aroma of the dark roast coming from the steaming cups of the consumers sitting outside on the metal chairs, trying to stay under the umbrellas as much as possible to shield themselves from the hot summer sun, and realized that the one place I loved above all others, the one I thought could not be improved upon, turned out to be missing just one thing to be perfect.

And she was walking right next to me.

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"Clark, have you really come to Paris, to eat a salad?" I whispered as I leaned forward across the table.

"I'm not sure I know what anything else in the menu is!" she responded nervously, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she looked back again at the menu.

"Would you let me order for you?" I asked, excited to be able to show her all the delights that Pur' - Jean-François Rouquette had to offer.

She looked at me apprehensively.

"I don't want you to order me something odd, again" she said, looking in awful despair.

I chuckled at this.

"No more clams, noted" I replied. "How do you feel about lobster?" I asked looking down the menu.

I watched her nose cringe in disgust, and realized, most of these things would hardly appeal to her.

"Have they got any chicken?" she asked embarrassed.

I didn't have to look at the menu to know they didn't serve anything like what she meant by 'chicken'.

"Perhaps, we should go elsewhere" I suggested.

I watched her eyes light up, but she restrained herself.

"No, we got all dressed up. After all, I have to experience France the right way" she said with a smile, picking up the menu and attempting to read it again.

"Clark, let's get out of here" I said, getting up and extending my hand with a reassuring smile.

"Won't they be upset we walked out on our reservation?" she whispered as she looked around for our uppity-nosed waiter.

"Not if we're quick enough to leave" I said mischievously, and was rewarded by a delighted smile from her as she picked up the skirts of her dress and stood up.

We began walking quickly to the door before we were intercepted by our waiter, who seemed to pop out of thin air.

"Est-ce que tu pars? Quelque chose ne va pas?" he asked us with a feigned look of concern.

"Oui, je crains que votre restaurant ne soit pas à la satisfaction de mon amour. Elle a vu un rat sortir de votre cuisine. Excusez moi. Vous pouvez le dire à votre gestionnaire" I replied with every bit of entitlement I had in me, and made my way past him with Clark in tow.

I could hear her giggling quietly as we walked out of the front doors and out into the street.

"What did you tell him?" she asked. "He looked absolutely mortified!" she exclaimed as she covered her contagious smile.

"That you'd seen a rat" I said as I began walking us away from the establishment.

She gasped audibly.

"You did not! That poor man!" she said shocked, but in laughter. "They'll shut down the whole place! Will!" she added, trying to sound upset, but I could tell she was amused.

"They won't. Trust me" I assured her, though, in actuality, I had no idea what they would do. "Fish and chips, then ice cream afterwards?" I asked her out of the corner of my eye, as if I didn't know she would love the idea.

"Yes!" I heard her squeal, then pull my arm down and smush a kiss on my cheek as hard as she could. "Can we go dressed like this?" she asked.

"Why not?" I asked her with a smile. "It is a special occasion" I added.

"Yes, it is" she replied, pleased, her smiling eyes twinkling under the moonlight.

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"This is so gorgeous!" she exclaimed breathlessly as we stood outside the balcony of our hotel room. "I could get used to this view" she added dreamy-eyed.

"You can say that, again" I said, as I stood next to her, equally engrossed in the view of the city.

Today marked half a year since the night we had admitted our feelings to each other at Clara's wedding.

"Thank you for showing me this" she said looking sideways and up at me.

"I want to show you so much more, Clark" I replied. "There's so much of the world I want you to see" I added as I thought of all the wondrous sights I had seen in my life, and how she would love each and every one of them.

She went back to look over the city, but I stayed looking at her, and the way her shoulders peeked out of her sleeping shirt.

"What?" she asked with a smile, as she noticed me staring.

"Nothing" I replied as I turned back to lean on the balcony and look out with her.

Then I felt her arm on my shoulder, turning me towards her, her other hand reaching for my face, her mouth reaching up for mine, and finally her lips meeting mine.

I responded in earnest, grabbing her waist and pulling it against me, then taking ahold of her head and holding it in place so I could deepen the kiss.

Her mouth obliged me, and I felt an exhaled sigh release from her lips when I parted from her mouth to trail her jawbone, kiss by kiss, going down to her neck.

Her head fell back as she allowed me more space, and I heard a small whimper as I kissed that spot I knew she loved.

My hand trailed her back, until l reached her knees, which I bent with my arms, picking her up and drawing a gasp from her.

In few more steps, I had laid her down on the pillows and she watched me as I crawled over her, and began kissing where her shirt ended, trailing kisses up to her ear.

"I hope you weren't hoping to rise early tomorrow" I said into her ear, and heard a giggle out of her throat.

"I don't think that'll be a problem" she answered humorously as her hands crept beneath my shirt, groping my back.

I scoffed. "Do not underestimate me, Ms. Clark" I replied, as one of my hands began lifting her shirt.

Whatever snarky reply she had in mind was drowned out by the involuntary sound evoked shortly after.

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A/N: I apologize profusely to anyone who speaks French! I'm sure mine is full of cringe-worthy mistakes!

Another short-ish chapter, mostly fluff, but they deserve it, after all they had to go through (:

I have another few more chapters planned out, perhaps two or three, plus an epilogue.

I hope you guys enjoyed this one! I wanted to give them their Paris trip they never had the chance to enjoy in canon. It was a pleasure to write it and I hope it was equally enjoyable for you guys to read.

Next chapter shouldn't take so long. I had some complications in real life that kept my mind pretty uninspired but I'm glad to be back.

As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the chapter. Thank you for reading!