Summary: Lois has an obsessed meteor freak stalking her and putting her life at risk. In order to protect her, Clark reveals to her his secret and proposes. Proposes to pose as a married couple that is! Do new identities also come with new feelings? Or are these fake too?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Forged I.D.'s and I Do's
by Chinita92
Chapter Seven:
RING
ring:
-noun
1. a typically circular band of metal or other durable material, esp. one of gold or other precious metal, often set with gems, for wearing on the finger as an ornament, a token of betrothal or marriage, etc.
"Well this sucks." Lois said, letting her jaw fall on her balled fist. "I feel like I'm being forced into an arranged marriage with Nick Nolte." she spoke aloud, shuddering at the mental image of large yellow teeth and crazy hair. "-and I don't mean in his brawny years."
Clark used his newly found ability- The Super Sigh, always Lois Lane induced, of course. "God help me.. It's not in me to kill-"
"Hey! Speak for yourself..." Lois said, pointing at her vibrant green shirt. He rolled his eyes at her.
"-but I might make an exception with this one." he said, facing the heavens above him. 'Patience is a virtue, Patience is a virtue', he thought, repeating the mantra in his mind.
"You guys. It's not that bad. It'll just be for a while. Maybe this way you'll stop fighting all the time!" Chloe said, her hands on her hips, her eyes gesturing for Lois to keep packing.
The chestnut brunette grumbled something under her breath and shoved a shirt in her empty suitcase that laid on the bed., she eyed her blond cousin. 'Happy?' she mouthed.
"Well, I have to go pack too." Clark said, digging in his pocket for his keys.
"Ughhh... pack what?!" Lois said, raising a dark, arched eyebrow.
He looked at her with a funny expression on his face. "Lois, I always knew you had some loose screws, but seeing in the situation you're in..." he said, averting his gaze onto her suitcase behind her. "... I'm not too sure now if you even own screws in the upstairs department." he said, cutely patting her head, to which she responded by swatting his hand away.
"Well excuse me Mr. Home Depot, but in case you haven't noticed.. the whole point of moving into Jimmy's apartment is to get away from here and to not be recognized, so I suggest that if you're going to go pack at the farm, you must avoid your plaid, red and blue wardrobe like a plague- which shouldn't be so hard if you would just realize how much truth there is in that simile." she said folding her arms, and squinting her eyes, as if challenging him.
He sighed.
"Someone just admitted defeat..." Lois said, once again drawing her attention onto her packing parade.
"She always has to have the last word! And I didn't even say anything!" Clark complained to a quiet Jimmy who had just walked through the door, his mouth conspicuously full of blueberry muffin.
"Has Woohen." said Jimmy with a shrug.
Clark simply shook his head. "Fine. I think I have some other clothes at home. I'll be back." Clark said and walked out, closing the door behind him. Once alone, he Super-Sped home.
"I think Smallville has an Arnold Schwarzenegger complex." Lois said, grinning widely.
"So soon?" Martha asked while sitting on the blue-clad bed. She eyed her son as he rummaged through his closet, avoiding anything red blue and/or yellow.
"Yeah."
"Are-"
"-I swear! I do this for her and she doesn't even appreciate it! She has some nerve!" Clark vented, his voice slightly muffled as he crouched down, searching in cardboard boxes that resided on the floor of his closet.
Seeing her son's frustration she decided to give him some words of encouragement."Oh honey. You know Lois. She has good feelings... she just doesn't know how to project them. Teasing and picking is her language. By saying 'I want to kill you with kryptonite', she's saying that 'I'm glad you're nearly indestructible and that you're protecting me.' "
"I wouldn't go that far now." he said, holding up an olive green shirt paired with a lop-sided grin.
The redhead simply nodded in approval. "Clark, women are complicated as it is, Lois is no exception-"
"-trust me, I know." Clark interjected.
"Yeah well, sometimes it's more interesting piecing together a picture that's been parted in puzzle pieces, than simply eying a photograph." she said, letting her words sink in.
Clark shot his mother a look. "Mom, I don't plan taking on jigsaw puzzles as a new pastime." he said, raising an eyebrow. He very well understood his mom's weaved words.
"I was just saying..." she said in her defense. "You know.. your father and I didn't like each other very much when we first met-" she started, but reading her son's negative expression she stopped and smiled. "As you wish." she said and stood up from the bed. She reached her soon and gave him a kiss on the cheek, followed by a hug.
"Even though you're not really getting married... you're going to need a wedding ring to pull of your little charade." she said, giving him a pointed look.
"I hadn't thought about that..." he said, eying the floor beneath his feet.
"I think I could assist you with that." she said, smiling brightly.
"Clothes you never wear: Sub-category- Shirts."
"Check."
"Clothes you never wear: Sub-category- Pants."
"Check."
"Clothes you never wear: Sub-category- Shoes."
"Check." Yawn.
"Clothes you never wear: Sub-category-"
"Okay! I get it! Every item of clothing that I hate and never wear is in the damned suitcase!" Lois shot out, holding her throbbing head. Changing Lois' hair color was one thing, but she couldn't wear the same clothes she sported about in Smallville- it would just defeat the purpose. Thus, Chloe had come up with a checklist.
"Good." Chloe replied, waltzing over to check for herself. She gasped. "Is that that sweater I gave you for Christmas?!" Chloe said, holding up a gray cashmere top.
"Um..."
"It still has the tag on it!" Chloe cried out, eying the 3-digit number. She turned to the female before her, tapping her foot. "Well?" she said, waiting for a convincing explanation.
Lois laughed nervously. Crap- she was caught. 'Think fast, think fast... '
"Look, it's a bird!" she said, pointing to the window. Chloe turned around, a split second later she realized Lois' childish diversion.
"What? I don't see anything..." Jimmy said, his face pressed against the window, his hands cupping around his eyes, as if holding imaginary binoculars.
Chloe ignored Jimmy and squinted at a guilty Lois before her. She stuck her nose in the air."Well fine, have it your way." Chloe said, a small pout forming on her pink lips. She solemnly dropped the sweater inside Lois' luggage. "At least it consoles me that you'll wear it now- even if it is in a forced manner."
"Chlo! It's not personal... I just. It's just." she stopped and let her head hang.
Chloe glared but found she couldn't help a smile from forming. "You know... your guilt heals the monetary wound that's still very fresh from December." she said sitting next to Lois. She bumped her shoulder against hers.
"So, are you mad at me?" cautiously asked Lois. She winced, not wanting to hear the answer.
"Oh Lo... I can't stay mad at you for long."
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Lois asked, intrigued.
"Because if I do, then who's going to drop-kick all the evil henchmen we meet along the way?"
Lois stopped to ponder on those words. "So true."
Chloe smiled and squeezed Lois' hand. Subconsciously eying it, her eyes widened.
"Houston... we have a problem."
"Dad's wedding band?" Clark called out, disbelievingly.
Martha nodded.
"Mom- I- I- I can't!" he said, softly shoving his mother's hand away.
"Clark, I really don't mind." she said, all honesty on the table.
"But-"
Martha rolled her eyes. "If you don't take it, I'll be forced to take out the lead box that's still sitting in the barn's tool box and slip this ring on your left hand against your will."
He eyed his mom wearingly.
She sighed. "Clark, He would've wanted you to have it. He loved Lois like another daughter, and would've given you his blessing on this."
He grinned. "Mom, you're making it sound like I'm actually marrying Lois." he said and chuckled.
She caught herself. "I am, aren't I?" She looked up to meet his gaze, "I guess it just comes naturally." she said while shrugging. She took hold of his arm and grabbed his wrist, uncurling his fingers. She smiled as she laid the shiny ring in the center of his palm, and finally closed his hands into a ball again.
"Thanks mom." he said softly and smiled at her.
"Anytime- and I mean it. Whenever you get married, Whoever you get married to- it's always at your disposition."
"That is- if I find that I am, after all, not destined to be alone." he said a bit sadly.
"Something tells me you're not." his wise mother said whilst gazing at his packed bags on his bed.
Clark hugged his mother farewell. "I'll miss you, mom."
"I'll miss you too." she said against his shirt. Clark walked out of his room and made his way down the steps.
"Good Luck, son. And don't worry about the farm, Ben will take care of it." she said at the top of the stairs. He stopped for another second and nodded. He walked through the familiar kitchen and reached the screen door, screeching as he opened it.
Once out on the gravel driveway, Shelby came running up to him. He set his bags down next to him, crouching down to meet his beloved dog.
He scratched his long, golden fur. "Look what I got buddy." he said, taking out the ring from his pocket, holding it up for him to see. Shelby simply barked.
"I know- Déjà Vu, huh?"
"Lois, you need a ring, pronto!" Chloe said as she paced before an unaffected Lois.
"And the nightmare continues." Lois thought aloud as she let her body fall back on her bed. When would it be over? Sadly, it was just about to begin.
"Lois, what are we going to do?" Chloe asked, sitting on the bed next to a stretched Lois. The latter simply pointed at her nightstand. Chloe looked in the direction of her finger. There was a box. She got up and walked to it.
"There's a ring inside." Lois called out.
Chloe opened the box and found what seemed to be a fairly pretty ring. Silver and diamonds- shiny too.
"Lois, did I not find out of someone proposing to you?" she asked, holding the piece of jewelry between her thumb and index finger.
"Err... no. I just bought it once to wear for a party."
"Such an expensive ring, for a party?"
"Expensive? Pfft! That's Cubic Zirconium staring back at you. It cost me 30 bucks- max."
"Well let's see it on you." Chloe said, once reaching Lois who threatened to nod off into the land of Sleep.
She groaned. "Fine." Lois said and buried her head into her pillow, then outstretched her hand into Chloe's face. The content blond slid it on her fourth finger- right to left. She stood still in silence.
"It looks weird." she said,cutting straight to the point.
"Must I ask why?"whined Lois.
"It's just that... Lois Lane... married?"
"I am NOT married." she said letting out a breathy laugh.
"Well your left hand says otherwise." she said and just as Chloe finished her sentence, she was caught off guard with a blow to the head.
"Hey!" Chloe said, adjusting her now disheveled mane.
"NOT MARRIED." Lois said through gritted teeth, and repositioned her pillow (weapon of assault) under her head again.
"Fine... Geez." Chloe said as she walked away and sat on the couch next to Jimmy.
"I swear, she's angrier than usual." Chloe said, confiding in him.
"I think the thought of living with Clark is getting to her."
"Please, Jimmy. They lived under the same roof twice, nothing new there." she said, facing him.
"...Yeah, but this time it's different." he said, keeping an eye on Lois who discretely glanced at her ring.
"Yeah?"
"Well... they are going to be living alone- just Lois and Clark... Clark and Lois."
Chloe smiled. 'Lois and Clark- Clark and Lois.'
"By the way that wasn't a bird." Jimmy said, smiling innocently, breaking Chloe's train of thought.
"Jimmy.. Lois was just.."
"Blind? Yeah I know. It was a plane. Although, I could understand how she'd get it confused with the wings, but it was clearly an airplane."
Chloe laughed to herself... Jimmy was something else.
"You see? Like that." he said, pointing at a small figure that breezed through the sky outside.
Chloe smiled and decided it was best just to play along. "Yeah, where?"
"There."
Chloe focused her vision and shook her head as she caught sight of Jimmy's indication. "Jimmy that is obviously a bird."
He looked at her, his mouth agape. "No... its a plane! Do you see the front of it? It's too long and narrow to be a bird."
"Jimmy.. It's a bird!"
"No, it's a plane!"
"It's-"
"Clark! Back so soon?" Jimmy asked the tall rugged man that had just walked through the door, clearly unaffected by the luggage he carried.
"Um, yeah no traffic." he said and smiled quietly. He noticed Jimmy staring at his bags and back at him, a bit confused.
"Man! My shoulder is killing me!" he said and dropped the large duffel-bag on the floor, making a loud clunk.
"Right, because you have a lot of clothes in there and any regular person would find such a large bag heavy." Chloe, said trying to throw some more dirt over the "hole".
The three sat there in momentary silence.
"Where's Lois?" Clark asked, interrupting what seemed to be a cricket's chorus.
"Right behind you Mr. Wonder." Chloe said, pointing a finger past him. Yes. In fact, he did seem to be pretty blind at the moment. But what had made Clark wonder of Lois' whereabouts, was that he didn't hear her at all- and that was very rare indeed.
Clark turned around and found a quiet Lois snuggled under her covers, a small smile forming on her lips. He couldn't believe it. Lois had caught him sleeping various times, but if his memory wasn't failing him- that was the first time he found Lois asleep- at least, peacefully.
As he subconsciously strode closer to get a better look, he noticed Lois' slender fingers slide up against the white cotton fabric that laid under her head. And then he saw it.
A sparkly wedding ring.
"Where did she get the ring from?" Clark asked, directing his question to the quiet pair on the couch before him.
"She already had it. Cheap old thing she had bought." Chloe said and shrugged.
Clark dug his hand in his pocket, and fished out his dad's wedding band. He stared at it and slid it on. For some reason, it really bothered him that his ring had a whole lot more significance than Lois'... It was then that he had to remind himself that he shouldn't care.
Because it was all fake.
To be continued...
Author's Note: Okay. Okay. SHOOT ME. I know I promised them moving in in this chapter.. but thing is, I didn't want to over-crowd it. Truth be told, the reader (and I include myself as well) only appreciates the most remembered (the last thing you read). I really liked this whole ring thing and more importantly, it'll have some significance later... so I didn't want it to be left forgotten. So, please don't kill me.. okay? I SWEAR- next chapter they'll move in. -Dashes out of room to dodge rotten salmonella-full tomatoes- If it consoles you guys, we'll get a Clois morning together (but separate) in the Talon apartment, and then a Clois night together (but separate) in Metropolis.. See? Full circle! -Runs out of room again-
(P.S: By separate I mean they don't share the same bed. Sorry guys!)