"Looks like you're ready."
The guests had begun to arrive and were making their way to the barn. The minister and his aides had already prepared their set-up for the ceremony, and everything had run like clockwork thanks to the military precision demanded by the daughter of a 3-star General. Jimmy was talking to various guests as he waited for his bride - who was safely hidden from view in the loft - to finally walk down the aisle. He could only envision a glorious and happy future with the love of his life.
Clark had the honour of giving said bride away, a role he took seriously. Chloe was his best friend and had sacrificed so much of her own life to ensure his secret remained guarded. She would never reveal it even when her own life was in danger. They had been through so much together and still come out strong the other side. Giving Chloe away was to be a moment he would honour and cherish. She deserved to have a life free from the burden of revolving around him and his secret, so giving her away on her wedding day was symbolic in more ways than one.
Clark had already been through his suit and tux choices with Jimmy so that Jimmy's contact at the suit hire company could have it dry-cleaned and ready for the occasion. In reality, once it transpired that he would be representing Chloe's side of the family, a suit was the only choice, with the groomsmen and Jimmy all wearing tuxes. He had opted for a crisp white shirt and a silver-grey tie to go with the black 2-piece suit. His shoes had been polished to a mirrored shine. Adjusting his tie in a small vanity mirror in the front room, there was just one part he would need help with.
Having never worn cufflinks before, he didn't know how to put them on. He wanted to wear them as they matched his tie, and also because they'd belonged to his father. Neither Chloe's nor Jimmy's parents had been able to make it for numerous reasons, nor had Chloe's Uncle Sam. Clark's father was no longer here, so Clark felt that the cufflinks at least gave a token nod to the presence of a father on such an auspicious occasion. He would make mention of this during his speech.
Neither he nor Lois had a plus one for the day but he thought that since they'd largely been in charge of organising the event (he the facilities, she the management), they'd be spending a lot of time in one another's company anyway. Not that he minded at all. He'd been getting along really well with her ever since they'd started working together. Their friendship was hard to categorise, being one step above mere friends or work partners but below anything that could be labelled a romantic attachment. Speaking of Lois, he could hear her coming down the stairs. He had no idea what choice of outfit Chloe had selected for her cousin and maid-of-honour, just that Chloe thought Lois looking amazing in it when they'd gone to their fitting. At the sound of her voice - a little weary yet insistent - he stepped out into the hall.
"Smallville, chop chop, let's go. We can't have a wedding without the escort to give the bride away."
He was stopped dead in his tracks as she made her way down the stairs, pausing a few steps from the bottom. It was obvious to both that there had been a crackle of electricity as they got their first glimpse of each other dressed up. His jaw almost dropped to the floor as he took in the sight of Lois in her outfit, and she let out an inaudible gasp. A dark orange dress with a chocolate-coloured sash decorated with an ornate jewel tie to hold it in place around her waist. Her light brunette hair had been beautifully arranged around her face and flowed down at the back. Her make-up was done just right to show off her skin tone. Lois was glowing, utterly flawless. He drank her in from head to toe, finally locking onto her eyes. He could not think of another time when he'd seen her look as breathtaking as she did right now, and that was some feat because she always looked gorgeous when she dressed up.
Clark was unable to utter any words, never mind pay her a compliment. She seemed a little nervous all of a sudden as she looked him over, giving a small nod of appreciation to imply that he did indeed cut a handsome figure. He wasn't to know that Chloe's prophetic words were ringing in her ears. She'd met her super-stud, and she knew it. She was staring at The One.
"Looks like you're ready."
Clark did not want to take his eyes off her but was aware that she appeared to be equally captivated by him, and that made him shyly turn away. They way she'd spoken caused him to think. Of course he was ready, as in he was fully suited up, but it didn't sound like that was what she'd meant. He'd seen her eyes soften in a way that suggested she wasn't just impressed or merely thought him to look handsome. It was something more than that. By 'ready', did she mean 'ready for her'?
The feeling of looseness around his shirt cuffs brought him out of the haze. His cufflinks still needed to be fixed. Since Lois was here, maybe she could help. Certainly, her response would either confirm or refute the inkling he had about her. If she was refuting what he suspected, she would throw some barbs his way and complain about him not being ready. Anything else would suggest that she was looking at him as something more. He wasn't sure how or if he could handle it if Lois was suggesting taking a new step in their relationship, and it hadn't escaped his attention that such thoughts were not scary for him at all. She'd be a terrific catch for any guy.
There was a way to test out his theory. A few weeks earlier, he'd gone to the apartment above the Talon while Lois was getting ready for her 'date' with Sebastian Kane. She looked incredible in her red dress and had got him tongue-tied and jealous - yes, jealous - of her date, and she wanted him to help zip her up. Was she really looking for a way to get some close proximity? Was it a ploy to show him what he'd be missing? Playing the same little trick here might work.
"I have it all under control, except for these cufflinks," he began, smiling almost apologetically. "They were my dad's and I've never had to put them on before."
While his statement was true enough, he fiddled with his left cuff as if to emphasise the point, and at least make it look as though he didn't just want to stare at her. She was already burned into his mind, and he found himself looking forward to seeing the various wedding photos and videos with her in them.
Lois smiled and made her way down the last few steps towards him, tucking the notepad she was carrying under her arm. Clark realised she was going to help him. She was into him.
"Guess you don't have much need for cufflinks when you have a whole closet full of flannel shirts huh, Farmer John?"
Clark barely noted the mild jibe as the delicate aroma of her perfume caught under his nostrils. She smelled as heavenly as she looked. The closer she got, the more he got lost in her. She was having a real effect on him. This was not carefree abandon caused by the effects of red kryptonite, and it wasn't some magic spell or a love potion-laced drink. These were real thoughts and feelings. Was he actually falling for her too? He was certainly struggling to take his eyes of her face as she reached for his cuff.
"Big city boy, let me give you a lesson," sighed Lois, beaming. He felt the coolness of her fingers against his wrist briefly, and his own skin felt like it was on fire exactly on the spot where she'd made contact. Did she feel that too?
Now stood so close he could see his reflection in her eyes, his own eyes wandered to her hair and her face in profile as she busied herself with the task of fixing the cufflinks. Good god, she really was flawless! As stunning as he thought Chloe looked in her wedding dress, this was one of those occasions where the maid-of-honour might just end up stealing the limelight. It shouldn't be this way, but it was. He almost forgot she was still speaking until she piped up her instructions for how to fix cufflinks.
"You just have to make sure this part sticks up straight, and then it slides right in."
Yikes! The double entendre could not be missed. Clark couldn't believe she'd just said that. Even worse, he couldn't believe the split-second flash of something else sticking up before it slid right in. That split-second flash didn't involve cufflinks, though it did feature the two of them. The hot spot on his wrist now felt like it was travelling up his arm, down his chest and towards his groin. He was saved from turning beetroot because Lois had realised her faux-pas and was now looking up at him sheepishly. She knew he'd caught it and it was her with the rosy complexion building on her cheeks. She was even more beautiful when she was shy, nervous and embarrassed. He nodded a half-hearted acknowledgement but he still couldn't train his eyes away from hers. Or her lips now.
Lois tried to recover, and the best way was to remember that she was the sole member of the organising committee, and that there were still a few important tasks for Clark to perform. Lois would be standing in the ceremony too, but these were things that Clark had been asked to do on Jimmy's side. Smiling as though the embarrassing moment had passed, she handed Clark the small box with the ring, plus a copy of Jimmy's wedding vows she'd been carrying.
"The ring. You can give that to Jimmy when the minister signals, and here are his vows, in case he forgets."
He watched her step away to look at her notepad. This wasn't the Lois he would expect in this situation. Though she'd given him a list of instructions, gone was the bossiness and snarkiness. Her behaviour was uncharacteristically timid. Instead of looking him in the eye, she'd turned her back on him and seemed to be struggling to regain her composure. Whatever was going on here had clearly rattled her. Had her unintentional double entendre thrown her that off-kilter?
Clark glanced at the vows in his hand. They were handwritten by Jimmy and though pretty brief, they were unquestionably heartfelt. Clark knew how strongly Chloe and Jimmy felt about each other and while Jimmy was no wordsmith, he was very good at putting his thoughts down on the page. He kept it simple and personal, just like the speech he'd given at their engagement party. One line in particular jumped out at Clark. Without even realising it, he began reading the excerpt.
"It's really hard for me…" he started, only now noticing that he was actually reading aloud. To save face and not come across as weird having uttered an incomplete sentence, he couldn't leave it there. He couldn't even pass it off as something to do with the cufflinks because that would make him sound like an idiot. No, he had to continue. "…to put my feeling into words, but from the moment we met, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."
Still reading from the page, he intended to tell Lois how nice Jimmy's words were having just read some of them, if only to try and diffuse the awkward tension that had built up.
"Jimmy vows…they're really sweet."
Looking back up from the page as he passed comment, he caught Lois' reaction. Her face was a mixture of emotions, a smile of pure happiness and eyes tinged with hope. Did she think he was saying those words to her? Why would she believe he'd felt this way from the moment they'd met? Their relationship had begun with a mutual curiosity, moving on to irritation, teasing and banter interspersed with the odd tender moment. Plus, she knew how much he'd wanted to make a real go of things with Lana. None of these would suggest a longing for something more, never mind from the very beginning. Had Lois simply lost herself in the romantic haze a wedding day often brings?
Lois was the one who'd wanted him to take a job at the Daily Planet. She was the one who'd taken it upon herself to mentor him as a rookie reporter. She was the one who'd had an uncharacteristic fit of jealousy when catching him with Maxima in the elevator. It was her idea for them to pose as an engaged couple to try and flush out a kidnapper. She was the one who told the kidnapper that she loved Clark. She was the one who then pretended she'd lied all along after slipping the sensor off her finger. If she knew her answer didn't matter, why would she answer 'yes' to the madman's question? She was the one who'd initially wanted to move back to the farm. Thinking about it, would she have done any of these things if she loathed him, or felt no sense of attachment to him? It was clear that she liked and wanted to be around him. A lot.
And just a moment ago, the cufflinks episode had given him some confirmation that Lois might well have romantic feelings towards him. All of a sudden, it did not seem like such a bad idea to maybe pursue something more with her. He was and had been single for a long time, and the two had known each other for years so there was a pretty solid foundation of friendship behind it all.
The trouble was that Lois' expression now revealed her disappointment though she tried in vain to mask it. Plastering on the best smile she could muster, Lois attempted to downplay the moment.
"Yeah. He's a regular Cyrano."
She'd fallen for him alright. Having misunderstood his reading of the vows, she'd retreated into recovery mode. The nervousness was still there and he could tell she was feeling foolish for misreading the situation. He couldn't leave her feeling like a fool. What she didn't know was that he was in sync with her feelings. Clark knew he wouldn't be able to keep his eyes off Lois during the wedding ceremony, and he was certain that he wanted to have one dance with her at the reception. The first of many? Rather than wanting to run a mile, he felt that the time was right. He could finally move on. He resolved to go for it tonight. There was no way she would misread his intentions again.
The awkwardly intimate moment was broken up by Jimmy's friend, who'd been charged with capturing wedding footage and testimonials from guests. Both Clark and Lois felt a wave of relief that they could focus on something else for a short while at least.
"When the right girl walks into your life, you'll know."
She was the one who'd said those words to him a few months ago, and it now hit Clark that she was right. Little had he known that she was actually describing herself. Could Lois and Clark be a thing now? Maybe. Soulmates even? Not as ridiculous a notion as it may once have been.
For Clark, the girl on the stairs had him completely smitten. It could be the start of something truly great.