Lois stared at her alarm clock. It would begin buzzing in three minutes. She obviously didn't need the wake-up call; she hadn't slept almost at all last night.
She turned off the alarm before it sounded and reluctantly began to get ready. She had been so disappointed that Superman hadn't shown up on her balcony when she had called for him. Of course she knew she didn't own him, but a part of her was unhappy with sharing him with the rest of the world.
Lois had spent most of the night flipping through channels on the TV hoping to see Superman saving the world from another huge disaster. At least then she would be at peace knowing that he had something more important to do. Unfortunately, all that appeared on the news was a Dateline exclusive on some questionable meat.
"Why didn't he want to be with me?" she thought as she picked out a matching skirt and shirt for the day. "Did I do something wrong?"
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Like Lois, Clark hadn't slept very well either. Ignoring her calls was almost unbearable when what he really wanted to do was experience another night like the one before. He had tried to escape to his quiet place where he hovered over the earth amidst the stars, but as usual, he could easily pick out Lois' voice among those of the planet's population.
By around 4 am, he finally returned to the house with the resolve to tell Lois the truth tonight. He wouldn't try to do anything extravagant because he realized she would only want him to be honest without putting on a big show. He would arrange for Jason to spend the night at a friend's house and then have a long talk with Lois.
He could only hope that she would be able to forgive him for all these years of lying.
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"Jason! Time to go!" Lois yelled as she walked towards the bathroom in the hall. "Jason, I'm going to be late for work." she yelled again as she opened the door, but was immediately surprised to see a full grown man instead of her five-year-old son.
"Oh my god. Clark!" she said as she gaped at him standing there brushing his teeth. She had forgotten that he was sharing Jason's bathroom. Walking in on Clark brushing his teeth would have been nothing, but he just happened to have just stepped out of the shower and was currently wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. She blushed at the mistake.
"Lois!" Clark almost shouted as he dropped his toothbrush and fumbled for his glasses. Lois thought that was an odd thing to be concerned about for someone half-naked.
"Clark, I'm sorry. I thought Jason was in here. I'm leaving soon to drop him off before I head over to the Planet. You can come with us if you want."
"I'll just take a cab. Perry wanted me in early to discuss the Luther story." he said as he crossed and un-crossed his arms uncomfortably. "Let me just get my clothes and I'll finish changing in my room."
He turned around to pick up his clothes and Lois couldn't help but admire his physique. His body was more muscular than she had expected, though she never really thought about what Clark's body looked like under his out-dated suits. She allowed herself a quick smile over the idea of admiring Clark as ridiculous as it sounded.
"Clark, it's okay. I'll leave and go get…" but it was then that the small scar on Clark's back caught her eye. It was less than an inch long and was just prominent enough to see. She would have known that mark anywhere.
"Oh my god." she whispered.
"Lois?" he asked as he turned around confused. "Is something wrong?"
Lois' heart was pounding. She couldn't possibly be right. She was trying desperately to say anything, but she could only look at him in disbelief.
"Mommy! I'm ready. We can go now." Jason said as he took her hand. "Good morning Clark."
"Hi Jason. I was just getting dressed. Excuse me." And with that he brushed past Lois with his clothes in hand and headed back to his room.
"Mommy, we're going to be late." Jason pushed.
Lois was now aware that she was still staring where Clark was moments ago. She took in a deep breath and shook her head slightly. "Ok, let me just get my bag."
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The curser blinked on the screen as Lois stared at her computer. She was kidding herself when she actually thought she would be able to act like nothing was wrong today. She had made more spelling errors than normal, spilled her coffee twice, and had made five fake trips to the bathroom in order to avoid Clark. Lucky for her, he had mysteriously disappeared around noon after the report of the mudslide in Brazil came through on CNN. When the anchor reported that Superman had arrived on the scene, she had thrown up her hands and merely said "Of course."
That was a few hours ago, so she assumed Clark would be returning soon. "Time to go down to the vending machine." she said quietly aloud.
"Do you want me to get you something?" Clark asked as he popped up next to her desk.
Lois turned around, startled. Every time she looked at Clark now she wanted to scream at herself for being so stupid. Those clear blue eyes, strong jaw line, tall posture, and jet black hair seemed now to be such obvious identical features to Superman. She hated herself for being so blind.
"No Clark. I think I can manage to get some M&Ms on my own." She hoped that her spunky tone was able to hide her mixed emotions because right now she had both the urge to hit him and get lost in his embrace.
"Oh, Lois. Before you go, I wanted to ask if pizza was okay for tonight. Jason mentioned spending the night at his friend's house, so I thought that would give us some time to talk." She noticed that his eyes averted themselves to the floor at that last part.
"Talk about what?" she asked, her interest piqued.
"Oh, you know. You asked me about where I went these last years. I thought it was about time that I finally tell you." he said as he flashed her one of those dorky, but charming smiles.
"Alright. Pizza sounds fine." She walked away before he could say anything else. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to keep her cool in his presence.
When she got to the vending machine, she grasped the top of it and rested her head on the frame. She was hurt by the fact that Clark would really make up an entire story about his vacation and continue to lie to her. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of being deceived.
"I thought it was about time I finally tell you." Clark's words echoed in her head.
"Wait," she began to think, "Maybe he isn't going to make up a story about African Safaris in the Serengeti. Maybe, just maybe, he will tell me the truth."
The thought quickly raised her spirits as she wiped her eyes. She punched a few buttons on the machine as the M&Ms clunked down to the bottom slot.
As she walked back upstairs, she was stopped by another thought. Superman was the love of her life, but could she really feel the same way about Clark Kent? It seemed impossible, but she didn't want to make up her mind just yet.