---- Chapter 37
Lois woke up with a start. Blinking, she sat up and found that she was under the comforter, which she peeled off of herself. How had that happened? She didn't even remember falling asleep, and she didn't think that she would have put herself under the thing in the midst of her unplanned nap. Apparently laying on the bed thinking about Clark was just as dangerous as putting her head on his chest.
Covering her mouth as she yawned, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, stretching out as she did so. She ran a hand through her hair, hoping that she could make it look tousled instead just plain old messy, even if nobody else was there. Looking back at the bed, she spotted the diary and bracelet. Thinking for a moment, she walked over to the other side of the bed and grabbed the diary, stashing in the secret drawer before picking up the bracelet.
Closing her eyes, she steeled herself for what she'd felt earlier as she slipped the bracelet on again. It happened faster this time; she started to feel the pain as soon as she'd nestled it into place, but she was prepared for it and pulled the bracelet off more quickly. That was all she needed to know that he was still alive, even if he wasn't in the best of spots right now.
She sat on the bed for a moment after that, not thinking. She let her mind go blank and didn't let herself do any kind of worrying. It didn't last long, though, because she was interrupted by her stomach grumbling at her about food, or a severe lack thereof. She wasn't surprised; after two plus weeks of eating like a mad woman, she had suddenly stopped doing so, having only eaten a salad in the last... what the hell time was it?
She turned to look at the clock and for the first time realized that it was dark outside. She hadn't even thought about it until now. It hadn't been much after three when she'd finished reading the diary entry, and now it was... 8:30! Good lord, she'd slept for over five hours! No wonder she was feeling so hungry.
She pushed up off the bed and walked out of the bedroom into the living room. She stopped all of a sudden, spotting a woman with dark hair sitting on her couch and talking on a phone.
Lois looked around the room, making sure that she was still in her own apartment. Everything looked like it had earlier in the day. She looked down at herself, finding that she was still pregnant, and she remembered everything that was going on, so she hadn't lost her memory, which meant that this was some random person in her apartment.
"Who the hell are you?"
The woman looked up at her, not breaking stride with her conversation, and shot her a small smile before wrapping up her conversation. She pushed her phone into her pocket as she stood up.
"Lois, hello. I'm Diana Prince."
Diana... why did that name sound familiar? Hadn't Clark mentioned a woman named Diana early on that protected New York City like he did Metropolis? What had her super hero name been...
"Wait. Wonder Woman, right?"
The woman nodded. "I came to see how you were doing a little while ago and found you asleep, but shivering. I hope you don't mind me covering you up."
"How did you even get in?"
"There's a key hidden on top of the light right outside your door. I want to assure you that the Justice League is using all its resources to locate Clark. We all thought you could use a friendly face, even if it's one you can't remember."
Lois made her way to the kitchen, grabbing an apple out of the fridge. She took a bite, eying Diana a moment before swallowing and saying something. "I appreciate that the Justice League is doing everything it can to find him, but isn't there some way that he can be tracked? Don't you have a way to find your members?"
"We do, but..."
"Then why the hell aren't you using it to find him?"
"Clark doesn't wear an ear piece to keep in contact unless he's actually working with the League at the time. It's how we track people and stay in communication during missions. If Clark had been wearing one at the time, we'd have found his location in minutes, seconds even. As it is, we've been able to ascertain the direction he was blown but not a distance."
"Can't you, I don't know, use the news footage, find out how many frames per second the film is and determine a speed from that?"
"Lois, every action that can be taken is being taken. We'll find him, I promise. You just have to have patience. We've done this sort of thing before; the League always finds who or what it's looking for."
Lois sat down on the couch, and felt Diana sit down next to her. She stared at the floor eating her apple in silence. She didn't know this woman, at least not that she remembered, yet the woman treated her as if they'd spoken a hundred times before this. She knew it was annoying her more than it should because she was on edge, but she didn't really care, either.
"Why are you even here? You should be helping search and I can wait for news by myself."
"Like I said, everybody wanted to make sure that you were taken care of while this is going on."
"I don't need to be taken care of. I took care of myself for a long time."
"We all know about you and Clark expecting your second child, and we do not want you to get over anxious or have you expending too much energy during this ordeal and fainting."
Lois frowned at Diana. She did not faint! "I do not faint!"
"Right. Is there anything you need that I can get for you?"
"I need my husband."
They fell into a silence again, uncomfortable in at least ten different ways Lois could think of. She wanted to say something, anything, but what the hell do you say to an Amazon princess that protects New York City? Hey, how about them Knicks? Think they have a chance this year? Jeez, she didn't even know if anybody she'd seen play was still in the NBA.
Lois tossed the apple core on the coffee table, not wanting to hold it any longer and not having a trash can at hand. She looked at it a second, frowned again, stood up and grabbed it, carrying it to the kitchen to throw away. She leaned against a counter, staring at nothing in particular until she finally opened the freezer, reaching in and grabbing the ice cream Clark had gotten for her last night.
She was really glad she hadn't eaten as much as she'd wanted to then.
She grabbed a spoon and walked back to the living room, sitting down in a chair this time as she started digging into her ice cream. She relished the taste of the chocolate chip on top of the chocolate. She almost forgot about Diana for a moment, but once again noticed her sitting quietly on the couch. She looked at the remaining ice cream and then sighed.
"Do you want any of this?"
Diana looked over to her. "What?"
"Ice cream. Do you want any of it?"
"No, thank you."
After a few more quiet moments, Diana's phone rang and she picked it up, taking a few steps away from Lois towards the back of the apartment. Lois strained her ears to try and hear what she was saying, but couldn't make it out. She resigned herself to eating more ice cream. Finally, Diana turned around again.
"They found him. He's going to be ok."
Lois just about fell over in relief. "Where was he?"
"About two miles east of the city. There was a small fragment of kryptonite from the bomb that lodged itself in his neck. The bomb blast was very powerful, yes, but Clark would have returned promptly had it not been for that. The kryptonite has been removed and it will take a little time, but he'll recover."
Lois took another bite of ice cream before setting the spoon down in the cartoon and wiping at her eyes. Without prompting, Diana was over and handing her a box of tissues.
"Hormones."
A confused look crossed over Diana's face. "What about them?
Lois waved at her eyes, wiping away tears with her other hand. "The damn crying. Happy or sad, I've shed tears more times in the last sixteen days than I did in the five years leading up to my attack. The freakin' hormones have turned me into some goofy, weepy woman. It's driving me insane."
Diana smiled and moved back over to the couch. "Are you sure it's the hormones, Lois?"
"What else could it be?"
"You love Clark."
Lois thought there should be more to that statement. "And?"
"Love can do funny things to people, Lois. It makes you do things that you thought you never would, and makes you capable of things you never thought you could do. It gives you strength when you shouldn't have any, and it keeps you afloat when you should sink. It can even make you cry when your husband has been found and is going to be ok."
Lois swallowed, not knowing what to say to that. "I love Clark, but I'll stick with hormones."
"I knew you would."
A minute later Lois had gotten her eyes back under control and was able to get back to eating her ice cream. It wasn't what she really wanted, though. She wanted Clark to come back so she could see for herself that he was alright. She wanted him to bring Jordan home so that they could all be together on a day where she wasn't certain that would happen again.
"How long do you think it will take him to recover?"
"We can never tell an exact amount of time. Sometimes it takes a minute, sometimes it takes longer. Obviously, this one will take longer. He'll be back tonight, though. If he can't fly, then somebody will bring him over in a car, probably Ollie."
Nearly an hour later, Lois and Diana were still sitting in the living room, discussing the workings of the Justice League, when there was a sound at the door. When Clark walked into the apartment, Lois jumped up and ran over to him, flinging herself into his arms. From her glimpse of his face, she didn't think he looked particularly great, but well enough. She felt his arms come around her and this time she didn't wipe away the few tears that made their way down her face.
"I'm not good at waiting."
"I know."
"I'm not good at being scared and powerless, either."
"I know."
"I love you."
"I know."
Lois laughed for a second before she could reply. "Thank you, Han, but that's not the response I wanted."
"I know, and I love you too."
Lois pushed herself out of his embrace and swiped a tear off of her cheek before noticing Ollie was standing behind Clark. The years hadn't hurt his looks at all, and now he sported a goatee instead of the clean shaven look that was still ripe in her memory.
"Hey, Ollie."
"No tip necessary."
"What?"
"Last time I delivered something to you, I got a tip and was sent on my way. No tip necessary this time, though I will understand if you want me to leave."
Lois smiled and walked over to him, giving him a hug. When she'd woken up two weekends ago, this might have been really awkward for her. Now, even though she'd never though of herself as a hugging person, it felt like the right thing to do. "Thank you."
"Glad to be able to help. Saving his life this time means I only owe him about seventeen more."
After Lois and Clark both thanked Diana for being there, she and Ollie left and they were alone, standing in the living room. Lois didn't know what to say; it had been a long day, but the nap kept her from being too tired. She walked over to him and wrapped herself around him again, reassuring herself once more that he was here and whole.
"I don't think I've ever been that scared for another person in my life. It was overwhelming, not knowing where you were but knowing that you were in pain."
"How did you know I was hurt?"
Crap. She'd never told him about the bracelet, no matter when it had been or how much memory she had, and here she was letting things slip. Oh, to hell with it. Other people knew anyway.
"The, uh, the bracelet."
"What?"
"The bracelet. I knew you were alive but hurt through the bracelet."
"Ok, next question then: how?"
"It acts kind of like a conduit. When I put it on, I get part of what you're feeling. Be it love, happiness, whatever, I feel it through the bracelet. I put it on after I got home to see if you were even still alive, because of all the slow motion footage and no contact I was having some seriously worst case scenario thoughts. You were alive, of course, but I knew you were in pain because I started hurting all over and feeling sick."
"You felt the effects of the kryptonite."
Lois nodded into his chest, not wanting to move from where she was. Thinking about how she felt, about her thoughts... it was like she was reliving her nightmare all over again. Damn vivid thoughts.
"I'm sorry you had to feel that."
"I'm not. It told me you were alive. It was the best pain I ever felt."
For an answer, Clark leaned down and kissed her gently. She appreciated the tenderness, but she needed one last bit of reassurance, so she deepened the kiss, slipping her tongue onto his at her first chance. Soon, she felt him backing her up and they fell back on the couch, not missing a beat as they did so. She tossed his glasses away and pulled at his shirt as she felt him do the same. They lost them at the same time, Clark diving down to kiss her breasts.
She felt him take a nipple in his mouth, not even having realized that she'd lost her bra already, and she lost the battle against a moan the slipped out of her mouth. Once one had escaped, they kept coming as Clark switched from one breast to the other, taking the free nipple in his other hand and massaging it gently. She knew her breasts had been sensitive recently, but she'd never felt herself react so intensely to touch before, and she very quickly lost herself to an orgasm.
Pants were quickly lost on both sides and before she knew it, Clark was moving inside her. She met each stroke with a thrust of her hips instinctively, not even realizing she was doing it. Very quickly a passage from the diary entered her mind, talking about a sensitive spot of Clark's an inch below his earlobe. As they moved, she started working kisses along his jaw until she got to the spot she wanted. She kissed it once, then started sucking on it like the diary had mentioned, and Clark suddenly went into overdrive.
She knew it was just a second until she had another orgasm. She thought it funny that she realized it then went over the edge, unable to think any longer as she called out his name and felt her muscles contract. He wasn't far behind, and was soon burying his head in the crook of her neck as he finished. She wiped hair out of her face as she caught her breath, then felt Clark flip them over so that she was on top of him.
He pulled a blanket down on top of her, covering both of them in it. She didn't know where he'd gotten it, but she knew he'd moved because he wasn't inside her anymore. She sighed contentedly, her head on his chest, and closed her eyes as he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. She felt the stress of the day finally melt off of her as she feel asleep in his arms.
