Part 5:
Lois pressed her hand against her forehead in a futile attempt to stop the jackhammer that was pounding against her skull. 'I need an aspirin,' she thought as she started to sit up - only to find herself restrained by a pair of arms. Lois froze and tried to remember what had happened last night.
Clark! Clark had come over. It had to be Clark's arms she was in. Lois chanced a glance behind herself and let out a relieved breath when she saw him, still asleep.
Lois carefully extracted herself from his arms and stumbled over to the kitchen. After downing two aspirin and a glass of water, she walked back over to the couch, but instead of laying back down with Clark, she sat on the coffee table across from him. She pushed back the lock of hair that rested on his forehead - like always - and smiled slightly when it fell back to its previous position a moment later.
Flashback: July 2007
Lois stared at the bracelet in her hands. 'How can something as small as this mean so much?' She wondered as she turned the object over in her hands. He hadn't told her what the bracelet meant, but she had recognized it from the paintings in the caves. The fact that he gave it to her meant that he thought she was his soul mate, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her; and that scared her. No, that wasn't exactly true. What scared her the most was that she could see herself spending the rest of her life with him.
Lois opened a dresser drawer and gently set the bracelet in it, knowing Clark would find it there. She picked up her duffel bag by the door and with one last look around her- Clark's room, Lois closed the door and went downstairs. She pulled the folded not out of her bag and set it on the table before making her way over to the couch where Clark was sleeping.
Lois lightly kissed Clark's forehead and brushed back the lock of hair that rested on his forehead, only to have it rebelliously fall back to its original resting place. She glanced quickly out the window. The sun was up, and if she wanted to leave before Clark woke up, she needed to leave soon.
As she drove away from the Kent farm, she looked back at the house with the rear view mirror.
Mix sheer hypocrisy with mediocrity
You'll play it safe every time-
So life turns up empty
And you're so dissatisfied
Who are you blaming this time?
Don't you know?
Lois quickly turned off the radio and focused her attention on the road ahead, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall.
End of Flashback.
Clark awoke to the sound of smoke detectors ringing throughout Lois' apartment. He ran at near superhuman speeds into the kitchen to find Lois trying to subdue the flames that had engulfed the coffee machine. Clark quickly blew out the flames and rushed over to Lois. "Are you okay," he asked as he took Lois' hands in his, checking them for burns.
"I'm fine. How did you?" she asked with a slightly confused look.
"Superbreath," he explained quickly. ""I got it about seven months ago."
"Oh," Lois said quietly as she stared down at her hands, which were still in Clark's.
"Do I even want to ask how you managed to set fire to the coffee maker?" he asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.
She looked up at him with a slight grin. "Probably not."
"Here, I'll clean this up. Real quick," he added with a grin.
Lois watched as Clark became a blue and black blur, moving throughout the kitchen before flying out the window. She smiled slightly and shook her head in amazement. No matter how many times he did some super-human feat, it always stunned her.
Clark landed silently in the kitchen and handed Lois a Styrofoam cup before sitting next to her on the couch. She took a cautious sip of the hot liquid, "I'm surprised you remembered how I like my coffee."
Clark just shrugged. "I have a really good memory."
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Lois broke it. "I really messed this up, didn't I?" she asked, staring down at the coffee cup in her hands.
"Lois, it's not that bad. Sure, I may not understand how you set the coffee maker on fire, but, hey, that's what Starbucks is for."
She shook her head slightly. "Not the coffee. I meant us. I really screwed things up between us - and don't try to tell me I didn't, Clark, because I did," she added when she saw him open his mouth to protest.
Clark pulled her into a comforting embrace and felt her relax against him. "Lois, it's okay. I get it - really. It was too much, too soon for you."
"No, it wasn't. My head just didn't know that at the time."
"But it does now?" He had barely gotten that out when Lois pulled him down into a mind-numbing kiss.
She pulled away just enough to look up at him with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Does that answer your question."
Clark grinned down at her before nodding and closing the distance between them once more.
The End.
The song is You Don't Know by Cyndi Lauper.
It's finally over. A big thanks to all who have reviewed.
