Chapter 14
"Put your feet closer together!" Lois shouted, her voice rising above the commotion on the ski hill. She cringed with a smile as Clark's legs split even wider until he stretched too far and fell backwards. A muffled cry of laughter escaped her as she held a hand in front of her mouth. She knew he could hear her, but she couldn't help it. He may have been the self proclaimed man of steel, but he was being tamed by a bunny hill. "Come on Smallville!" she shouted.
The hotel package had included free lessons, but she wouldn't give up the chance to teach Clark how to ski. It was going to be one of those priceless moments that she would remember for the rest of her life. She was right too, it was more than enjoyable. It hadn't taken them more than thirty minutes to get from the hotel room and onto the slopes. The rental skis were matched to their weight, giving Clark a ridiculously large pair, but he could handle them. She and Chloe had managed to pick out their own, their experience on the white slopes allowing them to gauge what was best for their feet. Jimmy was another matter though. The photographer had had trouble simply getting his boots on. After almost ten minutes of struggling, he had finally done them up and they had been able to head for the bunny hill.
Lois laughed even louder as she adjusted the yellow head band that covered her ears. Her hair was blowing softly in the cool breeze as she was unable to replace the smile on her face. The day was cold, but the sun's position in the sky provided enough heat to keep the frostbite at bay. With rosy cheeks from grinning, she looked over to her cousin who stood beside her. Chloe was holding onto Jimmy's shoulder as he was saying something. She couldn't make out his words, but the young man was clearly unnerved. Her eyes shifted to the bottom of the hill. Clark was grabbing the small chain that would pull him back up to the top of the small hill. Her smile softened as she saw him grin, his teeth showing. The love she felt the night before came rushing back into her warmly, its brilliance and seduction sucking the breath out of her lungs as she stared at him. Even from a fair distance away, it seemed as if his green eyes sparkled, the sun bouncing off the snow and radiating off his eyes back to her. For the first time in her life she wondered if the feelings she was having were the signs of true love. She scoffed at herself. They were, and normally they would have scared her, but things were much different than they used to be.
As Clark made the slow movement up the makeshift lift, she looked over to Chloe, who was giggling uncontrollably. Lois looked halfway down the slope, her own laughter echoing through the air as she caught sight of Jimmy. The man was out of control, unable to pull his feet inwards at the front to slow himself down. Even from her distance she could see his legs wobbling and shaking violently as he struggled with all his might to slow down. Her hand went to her eyes suddenly as she saw him trip his left ski over his right and go flying forward. Still cringing, she managed a laugh as Jimmy stood up and waved to both her and Chloe, his face covered in snow. She had to admit, the young man she always thought a dork, had a good sense of humor. He wasn't afraid to make and ass of himself either, and that was a good thing in her mind.
"Did I look any better than that?" Clark asked, his eyes glancing to the bottom of the hill where Jimmy was getting back in line for the lift.
"Oh, you were much more graceful, Smallville," she joked, turning around on her skis as Clark began to adjust the poles in his hands.
"Let's just be happy I'm nearly invincible, otherwise I would have broken my tailbone a few times." He grinned sheepishly as he sidled up beside her and pulled his sunglasses off. "I don't understand why you want me to where these? I can see without any problem."
Lois shrugged. "I thought you looked sexy in them the other day." She hid her grin as she looked back over to Chloe, who was eavesdropping on their conversation.
"You're right Lois, he does look rather hot in them," Chloe said.
Clark went redder than Lois's rosy cheeks as he flushed in embarrassment. He hated it when they made him feel uncomfortable. Lois he could take, but when Chloe jumped in, he could barely stand it. "Okay, got any more pointers?" he asked, his eyes drifting back to the bunny hill in front of him as he slipped his hands through the loops at the top of the poles.
"Just one," Lois replied, her right hand resting on his shoulder. She grinned when he smiled. He was wearing red winter coat, but she knew it didn't matter. Again with the impervious thoughts of him being immune to so much, she was jealous. He wore only jeans over his legs, but there were large wet spots from the snow having melted from the sun. "Quit falling down and keep your feet closer together."
"That's two Lois," Clark said with a snip, pushing himself forward down the hill.
Lois rolled her eyes and decided to follow after him. Through all the bumbling and awkwardness that Clark possessed, he actually had the ability to ski. She could see it. He bent his knees just right, his back loose and relaxed. All he needed to do was learn the basics and he would be a pro in no time. Fixing her ski goggles over her eyes as she started down the hill, she laughed. Clark was trying hard to move from side to side, not wanting to go straight. The trick was to ski back and forth, enjoying more of the slope rather than just going down straight. His skis stuttered in the hard snow as he moved from side to side. He hadn't mastered the hop yet, so he was pushing with his outside ski to turn. "Hop a little," She shouted over to him.
Clark nodded dumbly as he did what she said. With a small hop and a twist, he turned more easily. He smiled widely as he turned to her. She grinned back, but when her eyes went wide and looked in front of him, his vision drifted to where she was looking. He had forgotten to change directions again, and was heading straight for the tree line. The idea of leaping high into the air ran across his mind, but he ignored it and braced himself.
Lois watch in horror as Clark went crashing into the trees, his body breaking limps left and right as he bounced of a large tree with a thunderous thud. Her eyes closed in pain as she came to a stop, the snow flying high as she dug the skis hard into the snow. With a push of her poles, she guided herself towards him. She was scared to death, but as she got closer and saw him getting up, unhurt, she relaxed. Getting used to him being invulnerable was going to take a while, but it was reassuring too. "Are you okay?" She asked, more out of mock than concern, her smirk ever present.
Clark walked out of the side of the tree line with his skis in his hands and a pole caught up in his jacket. With a frown, he pulled the pole and ripped his jacket. Growling in displeasure, he tossed the skis to the ground. Carefully removing the rest of the pole, he cringed as the coat began to rip some more. After finally removing the whole thing, he slouched in disappointment at the large hole in the side of his jacket. "So much for this thing," he said, pulling down the zipper and taking it off. His black t-shirt was enough to keep him warm, along with the sun, but again, it didn't matter.
"We might be taking you to the hospital with a ski pole lodged in your ribs if you weren't harder than stone," Lois commented, her smirk growing bigger.
Clark grunted as he walked up to her. "Is anybody looking?" he asked, his eyes darting left and right.
Lois joined him in searching, but they were out of the sight, hidden by trees. Her eyes slowly went to Clark as she grinned slyly. "Why, do you have something in mind?" she asked, her voce sultry and low.
Clark gulped as he stared at her. "No-that's not-I-uh-."
"Relax Smallville." When he visibly relaxed, she smiled warmly at him.
Nodding like a goof, he handed her his ski poles and looked left and right again. "Be back in second."
Lois was about to say something, but the next moment he was gone from in front of her, her hair whipping wildly. Before she could even think of where he had gone, her hair blew over her eyes violently.
"There," Clark said, grabbing his poles back from her as he clicked his boots back into his skis.
"Where did you go?" She asked, flicking her head back to the get the hair out of her eyes.
"Back to the hotel room," he answered. "I had to put my coat away."
As he grinned wildly, she shook her head in wonder. "You're much faster than I thought. You weren't gone for more than a second."
"True," he replied, a loud click echoing as his boot slid into the last ski. "I have to go pretty fast when I'm in public. Can't risk anyone knowing I'm not around." He shrugged his shoulders as he slipped his sunglasses back on. He was only in his black t-shirt, but it was enough.
Lois smiled as she looked back down to his jeans. "It seems you pants are dry too."
Clark grinned sheepishly as he positioned himself back towards the hill. "Just one of the many perks of going fast." He was about to push off, but voices from behind caught his attention. Chloe was coming towards them, her skis sliding effortlessly across the snow as she came to a halt behind them. Jimmy was another matter, his skis bouncing around wildly as his legs wobbled back and forth.
"Watch out!" Jimmy shouted, his hands going over his face as he came towards Clark and the tree line. "I'm a dead man," he whispered to himself.
Lois and Chloe cringed at the impending crash, but Clark simply stepped aside with his skis and grabbed Jimmy by the arm as he went flying by. Holding his ground without so much as a sweat of effort, he stopped the man from crashing, his body whipping back violently in his grasp.
Jimmy's feet went shooting up into the air as the hand on his arm held fast. His body spun around quickly, his skis almost hitting Lois as he felt Clark hold him. He couldn't stay on his feet, but Clark let him land softly on the snow. "Thanks," He whispered, his heart beating a mile a minute.
"No problem," Clark replied, making ski divots so that Jimmy wouldn't get skeptical should he see unmoved snow around his feet.
"Didn't think you were that strong," Jimmy said, getting up with the aid of the large man's hand.
"You'd be surprised what tossing bails of hay around can do to a man's body," Lois offered up. Jimmy wasn't the curious type like her or Chloe, but it was a solid explanation and by Jimmy's facial reaction, he had bought it.
Clark smiled at Lois and mouthed a thank you. "Well Jimmy," he said with a hint of encouragement. "How about we go down together and leave these pros to have a little fun?"
Jimmy nodded as he adjusted his toque and grabbed tightly onto his poles. "Let's go," he said enthusiastically, his eyes going hard in determination.
Lois smiled as Clark began down the hill again with Jimmy beside. She heard Jimmy ask, "Clark, where's your coat?" as they disappeared slowly from view. Laughing, she was ripped from her happiness with a touch on her shoulder.
"What happened?" Chloe asked, her hand falling back down to rest on the pole stuck in the snow. She was in a red ski suit that puffed out to keep her warm. There were close to a hundred zippers on it, but it was stylish.
"He lost control and went crashing into he trees," Lois said, lifting a pole and pointing it to the tree line.
"Wow, he sure did some damage," Chloe replied, her eyes stuck on the fallen limbs and branches. There was a path of destruction from where Clark had entered. "Good thing those weren't people," she laughed.
"I know," Lois replied evenly, her eyes drifting back to the bottom of the hill where Clark and Jimmy had seemingly made it without incident.
"Are you okay?" Chloe asked, her hand going to her cousin's shoulder. Lois seemed somewhat agitated.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Lois shook herself out of her cousin's grip. "It's just a little harder than I thought it would be."
"What do you mean?"
Lois gestured to the tree carnage without looking at it, her eyes still focused at Clark at the bottom of the hill. "It's going to take a while for me to really accept that he's indestructible. We finally get together, and now all of a sudden I feel scared that he's not going to get up after he does something like this."
Chloe skied up beside Lois and said. "He is indestructible Lois, he'll always get up."
She tried to smile, but failed. "You say that, but in the back of my mind I worry that one day he won't. Now that I know everything about him, I'm starting to believe the dangers he's warned me about."
Sighing heavily, Chloe nodded. "I understand Lois." When her cousin frowned at her, she continued. "Now that you've admitted to yourself that you love him, you're worried about losing him to someone who wants to know about his secret. That puts you in danger too, and I think that scares you almost as much as much as him getting hurt or kidnapped." When her cousin couldn't respond, she knew she had hit the nail on the head. "Take some comfort in knowing that he's even more scared for you. Letting you in was huge Lois, much larger and than anything you could imagine. He feels that he's put you in danger."
Lois once again doubted herself. "Then why did he tell me?"
Chloe smiled wide at the question. "He loves you Lois. Why do you think he never told Lana?" When Lois's eyebrows rose, she elaborated. "Clark never truly loved her; otherwise he would have told her the truth. They did the slow dance for five years and he just finally realized what love can do to him. He found you Lois, and he wouldn't risk losing you by lying."
Lois grinned at her cousin. Chloe had the innate ability to make her feel better, just like Clark did. "It's just going to have to take some time for me to get used to all this," she said again.
"Then talk to Clark about it," Chloe answered back aimlessly. "Now, let's not fall behind." She quickly pushed off and followed after Jimmy and Clark, her skis biting softly into the hard snow.
Laughing, Lois pushed on after, her hair flying freely in the wind as she squinted against the cold breeze. She would talk to Clark about it later. The man had the ability to get her to open up about anything. Never in her life had she ever felt the need to talk about everything that dominated her mind, but Clark did that to her. It made her extremely happy as she realized he was the one person who she could love unconditionally. Skiing down the rest of the bunny hill, she slid to a stop at the bottom, finally coming to a halt by the rest of them. "You're getting better," She said.
"Thanks," Clark replied, smiling wide.
"I was talking about Jimmy."
"Oh," Clark said in surprise.
"Really?" Jimmy asked, his spirits lifting.
"Yes," Chloe said. "It won't be much longer and you'll be skiing that Black Diamond slope over there." She pointed her pole to the northwest.
Clark's eyes drifted to the slope, his eyebrows rising high on his forehead. The top of the slope looked as if it was nestled in the clouds. It had deep and dark forbearance about it that caused him to shiver. "I think I'll stay away from that for the time being," he said, his eyes drifting away and finding Lois again. He loved the fact that whatever mood he was in, it was instantly lifted the second he saw her. The warm smiles she returned certainly helped too. "So, what next?" He asked, searching the three of them for an answer.
"I'm kind of hungry," Jimmy admitted, his lips splitting into a toothy grin.
"Already?" Chloe asked in surprise, jamming her poles into the ground with emphasis.
"You can't blame a guy for getting hungry, can you?"
Chloe rolled her eyes at her boyfriend as she pushed herself along beside him as they made they're way back to the ski lodge. The ski hills were roughly a mile from the hotel, up on the mountains. They had taken a gondola up to the resort, the ride having taken some time, but it had been worth it. They could see the hotel and the town below. Chloe wondered what it would look like at night.
Lois waited until the two were out of the way before she slid closer to Clark and deposited her left ski between his two. She kissed him, her right ski on the left side of his.
Clark was surprised, but he indulged her and brought his right hand around to her back to hold her as he deepened the tender embrace. "What was that for?" he asked, pulling back.
"I just wanted to kiss you," she replied, taking her hand out of her glove and pulling on his bottom lip with her thumb and forefinger.
He laughed and took her lips again, but only lightly this time. "I guess asking would be too much trouble?" he said, mumbling against her lips.
She moaned against him, her eyes closing as she fought to stay upright. When he broke the kiss, she almost stumbled forward and fell on him, her mind completely lost in the aroma of his cologne. "You smell good," she said suddenly, trying to find something to say while she let herself fall back to earth.
"I believe you've told me that before." She had said the same thing just before they had left the hotel.
"So, is there a law against saying it twice?" She slipped out of his arm and backed herself away with a push of her right pole.
"Never." He smiled as he fell in beside her.
They quickly made their way back to the small lodge. The hill was only for the hotel guests, leaving the large slopes practically empty. It was close to noon, most of the people not bothering to come out and ski on a Monday morning. To him, the less people around the better. He didn't know how he would have explained to a stranger how he almost toppled ten trees after crashing into the small forest.
Reaching the lodge, he kicked out of his skis and walked into the place with Lois, her hand firmly nestled in his as he smiled triumphantly. Her touch meant everything. Sure, she would always be there, but just the spark and warmth that came from her was enough to send him to the moon. It made feel like he could fly, but in truth that scared him more than it elated him.
The lodge was almost empty as they walked in and kicked off their ski boots. Sitting down at their table, he slipped on his regular black boots and tied them up.
Lois reluctantly let go of his hand as she sat herself down, undoing her ski boots and slipping on her regular winter ones. "We have all afternoon to learn," She said suddenly, relieving the quiet air that had been bothering her.
"I think I got the hang of it," Clark answered, slipping on his last boot and tying it up. "What do you want to eat?" When she frowned at him, he motioned his head to the buffet. It lacked a lot of food, but it was only for the hotel guests, and there wasn't many around at the moment.
"Are you insinuating that I can't get my own food?" she asked with a silly smirk.
"Fine," Clark shrugged, "get it yourself, I was just trying to be nice." He played hurt, but she saw right through him.
"Liar," She scoffed, standing up and pressing her lips to his softly. She quickly stepped back and went to the buffet line, where Chloe and Jimmy were already helping themselves.
Clark let out a held breath as he watched her saunter to the buffet. Every time she kissed him, she took his breath away, causing him to lose all motor and bodily functions. She tasted so sweet, so good that all he wanted to do was spend the rest of the day with arms around her and his lips on hers. Grabbing the bottom of his shirt, he straightened it out and followed after her. She was in only her jeans, and with her coat off, she revealed a tight yellow sweater with a plunging neck line. Sometimes his mind drifted off to what it would be like to get under the sweater, but he brought himself back to reality as he knew it would take time before they would do anything like that. They both wanted to wait for the right moment, and he was going to make sure it was indeed perfect.
It took only minutes to fill his plate, not really bothering to look at the food he took as he had watched Lois the entire time. He was transfixed, his eyes unable to break free from her seemingly warm hold. He knew he was grinning like an idiot the whole time, but he couldn't help himself. He was happy.
Sitting beside Lois, he set his milk down beside his plate and grabbed his fork.
"I don't get it," Jimmy said, looking at Clark. When he caught the big man's attention, he elaborated. "My mom made me drink milk all the time and I never grew to be as big as you." He was just making light conversation, trying to keep things from getting awkward. Plus, he liked making fun of Clark's obvious height advantage over himself. Chloe liked it when he made fun of himself too, it cheered her up immensely.
"I don't think milk has everything to do with it," Clark offered, stuffing a French fry in his mouth. He would have preferred a Chinese buffet, but an American one was fine. "Sometimes you're blessed with the height, but it's not always a good thing."
"Yeah right," Jimmy said, snorting in disgust. "Looking over people, being quiet, you can do that without looking like a fool. If I didn't have a personality I would be a floating duck. You big guys get away with brooding and don't get questioned."
Lois and Chloe both laughed suddenly.
"What?" Jimmy asked, his eyes darting back and forth to all three of them. Clark looked uncomfortable, but he was grinning too.
Lois waved her hand at Jimmy as she answered him. "It's just that we've been bugging Clark about his dreaded Lana brooding for years. We don't let him get away with it. Maybe some other large people do, but he doesn't."
Clark dropped his fork and looked at Jimmy. "See what you get for having only women as friends." He grinned as Jimmy broke out in laugher, his noise bringing about a punch from Lois to Clark's shoulder. "Hey," he said, feigning pain.
"Eat your food and be quiet," Lois ordered, pointing her fork at him suggestively.
"Yes ma'am." Clark went back to his plate and ate in earnest. He had been in agreement with Jimmy; a man couldn't deny his hunger, even if they had eaten not only three hours ago. There was something about the time period between breakfast and lunch; he always seemed hungry by noon. He placed it as nothing more than routine from years of eating a hearty breakfast at eight after getting in from chores. "That reminds me," He said suddenly, reaching into his pant pocket and withdrawing his cell phone.
"Who are you calling, Smallville?" Lois asked with a hint of annoyance. "Don't you know it's rude to make a call at the dinner table?"
Clark rolled his eyes and dialed his desired number. "I'm calling my mom, if you must know. And this is not a dinner table," he finished, knocking on the flimsy wooden table as he adjusted himself in the wooden chair.
As they began to talk amongst themselves, he groaned loudly and got up out of his seat. He walked to the door and stepped outside so he could get better reception.