Chapter 68

"Clark! You are early," she told him at the door with just a touch of reproach.

"And you…are" he took a very shaky, very deep breath, "beautiful."

"Good answer," she smiled at him. "Then you may come in."

He hesitated, and she leaned forward to pull him into the room. He was nervous. She could tell this first date thing was even harder for him than it was for her. The Man of Steel himself was nervous about a stupid date? With her? Somehow it made her bold.

"Are those for me?" She looked at the flowers in his hand and smiled.

"Oh, yeah. Um…here." He handed the bouquet of yellow roses to her as he fingered his tie with his other hand. "Lois, this is so…weird."

She sniffed at the roses and smiled at him kindly. "Yeah. I know, but first dates are always a little awkward. It's normal," she said, stressing the word, and watching his eyes as he struggled to relax.

Lois knew that feeling she saw there all too well; she just always managed to hide it better than he ever could. Yeah, that feeling where you feel your arms growing substantially longer, and you seem to have nowhere to put your hands. Oh yeah. The old Clark is back, standing right there in my living room. The old Clark I thought was taken over by a super-confident Super-man.

"I'm just going to go put these in water," she said over her shoulder as she headed for the kitchen for a vase. As she ran the tap, she continued to talk to him. "You know, Smallville, yellow is supposed to be for friendship. I thought we'd progressed beyond that. At least I'd hoped we had—"

She reentered the room to find him still glued to the same spot. Her heart melted at the sight of him being so uncomfortable, and she bit back the smart remark she was about to utter. She was the one with all the dating experience anyway, wasn't she? It was going to be up to her to get this evening rolling. "So! Why don't we break the ice by doing something familiar first?"

"Like what?" He looked around him, completely lost.

"Like this?" She walked right up to him and kissed him.

It worked beautifully.

She'd intended just a simple kiss, a mere peck on the mouth, to try to get him more at ease. So she was glad when she felt him relax momentarily, and playfully return two quick, little kisses of his own before he pulled back from her and nervously licked his lips.

"Lois, you really are…"

"Shhh…" She put her arms around his neck and initiated a far more serious type of kiss. Enjoying it immensely, she was suddenly surprised when she felt him began to answer her every move. His hands felt their way around her waist, and he pulled her toward him. With that for encouragement, she couldn't help but lose herself in the moment. After all, this was Clark.

My Smallville!

With the practice of someone who had more than her share of dates and boyfriends, and with the confidence of someone who knew how to handle them if they got out of hand, she responded. Her tongue found its way between his teeth, and his answered more forcefully. The kiss deepened to a point she'd never experienced, well, at least, not with Clark. She was surprised to feel him holding nothing back as his hands began to rove to places they'd never yet been.

At last!

After a few moments, her elation changed to confusion and she drew back from him, placing a guarding hand on his heaving chest.

"Clark?" He opened his eyes and she was stunned to see that they were glowing a bright red, not reflecting any light present, but giving off a deep, red hue all on their own. "Clark?" She laughed a bit nervously. "Not that I'm complaining, but that was…well…that was…What just got into you?"

He didn't answer, but grabbed her hand and pulled it behind him, placing it on the small of his back, effectively returning her to where she had been. With his voice huskier than she'd ever heard it, he said, "It's what you want, isn't it?" His own hands began to wander again, and he kissed her with each and every word he spoke. "Exactly… what… you …want. You've made that abundantly clear to him."

"Him?" She pulled away again. "Who? What him?" She was thoroughly bewildered, both by his actions and his words.

"Clark."

"Very funny, Smallville. It's weird enough when you do the third person thing about Superman, but when you do it about you, it's just plain—"

"You know, I never liked the name Clark. It's too…well, too much like a farm-boy type name. Isn't it? You think so. I know you do." He kissed her deeply. "I always liked Kal much better."

Instinctively, she began backing up from him, and he, in turn, had begun advancing on her. "Cal?" Lois's eyes grew round, and she fought to keep her voice calm. "Oh! Oh, you mean 'Kal' with a 'K,' like in Kal-El don't you? That's hysterical, Clark. Now why don't—" But he once again had his arms around her tightly. "What…Clark, I don't know what's gotten into you, but stop it…right now! You're scaring me."

"Really?" His eyes were shining with something that looked quite out of place in Clark's eyes – lust, and his voice echoed it with every syllable. "The brave, fearless, reckless Lois Lane? Impossible!"

"This isn't funny," she said firmly, pulling away from him.

"I'm not trying to be funny. I'm trying to—"

Suddenly he had closed the distance she'd put between them at super speed, and he had her in an embrace again, "I'm trying to," he repeated, "give you what you want. Don't think I haven't seen you flaunting yourself in front of him."

No, something's wrong. This isn't Clark! she told herself, wrenching herself out of his arms again, knowing that if he wasn't allowing it, she would never even be able to do it.

"Take that dress, for instance. You picked out one that would show off every curve, every …" she took a ragged breath and watched his eyes travel down to her breasts, "asset, every—"

Lois swallowed hard and tried to keep her breathing under control. If his words hadn't scared her, then the gleam in his eyes definitely would have. This was now way out of hand, and she knew far too well what this man was capable of doing.

Lois, get a grip. Get a grip? The words struck a chord in her memory. Chloe!

"You know, you're cute when you're scared. Doesn't happen that often with you, does it?" He grinned. It wasn't that easy, heart-stopping, world-shaking grin of Clark's though. No, this was somehow a greedy, ravenous, lascivious grin.

And she was the sole object of it.

Okay, Lois, a different tactic is needed here. Reasoning is not working.

She grinned back at him, trying to match the same, almost sensual feel of his voice. "You're right, Smallville, I've been waiting for this for months." She reached around the back of his head and pulled his head down toward her until she could kiss him passionately once more. "It's just taken you so long to come to me, to want me. I was just caught by surprise." She kissed him again and then playfully pushed him away once more. "But not in here. This isn't that comfortable for me. The bedroom. Much better. I'll go get a bottle of wine. Wait for me?"

"Kal" looked her up and down voraciously, and licked his lips yet again. "Don't take too long." He turned and walked slowly to the bedroom, shedding clothing as he went.

Lois stood there a few seconds with her mouth hanging open before she could even find the strength to move. Gathering her thoughts and her bravery together, she escaped to the kitchen and grabbed her phone from the table, hitting speed dial one. Keeping an eye on the door, she prayed for her cousin to answer quickly. "Come on, Chloe!" she mouthed, knowing every word she uttered could be heard by the strange Clark in her bedroom if he tried to listen.

"Lois? What's wrong? Did Clark chicken out and not come?"

"Chloe!" She glossed over the obvious comeback that came to her mind and got straight to the point. This was no time for jokes. Keeping her voice at a whisper, she said, "Something's wrong. He's here, but he's not…he's not…Clark."

"What do you mean?" Chloe's tone was immediately low and serious. She'd known such things to happen far too frequently in the past to know how easily "Clark" might not really be Clark. "How's he acting?"

Lois's whispered answer became more frantic as she explained, "He was fine when he walked in the door, and now he's waiting in the bedroom, probably naked by now, for me to join him! Chloe, I'm scared. I don't know what to do. Well, I do, but he's been so dead set against that from the very beginning because he thought I'd get hurt, and now he doesn't seem to care. It's like he's gone Jekyll and Hyde, well, mostly Hyde!"

"Lois, listen! I don't suppose you have any green Kryptonite around there?"

"What?! What on earth would I want that stuff around here for?"

"Well, I do. I'm at the Planet. I'll be right there. Just keep him occupied for about ten minutes!"

The line went dead.

"Occupied?" Lois said to the empty kitchen, her face a mask of terror. "Oh well," she mumbled as she rolled her eyes and grabbed a bottle of red wine, a corkscrew, and two wine glasses from the cabinet, "if Clark's fears were right, it'll be a great way to go!" Fixing a smile in place, she headed for the bedroom.

********

Author's notes: Waffleninja – now I have another one to worry about? Oh, no. Merlin- not over-analysing at all, are you? Almost all of you guessed, darn it. It was the word "Crimson," wasn't it? A dead give-away. And for the ones who wondered. Yeah, the expiration date, (or expiry date, depending on where you live) means the aphrodisiac in the lipstick didn't affect Lois, but Red K doesn't expire. However… (no…not gonna tell you that yet. It would ruin the next chapter!)

Ily18 and janewren– I got Chloe right? That's good. I was worried about her. I tend to avoid her since I'm never sure. For some reason, she's hard for me to write. Cloisharley – I actually loved the idea of Clark NOT allowing her to kiss him, but I'd already practically written most of this and I liked it, so I will file that away for some future story, if you don't mind. Lois on the prowl equipped with red K lipstick and a reluctant Clark is hysterical. Although…can't see him resisting her for long anyway.

Chewbie – may I say you have wonderful taste! PrincessBella15 – Not sure if I can grant all your wishes. Vanishingpoint – They actually did do away with all the green K in the comics at one point. Big mistake. He has to have a weakness. It's hard enough to write him not single-handedly taking care of all the world's problems in one fell swoop otherwise. Thanks to the rest of you guys for reading too!