I Would Like To Give You the Silver Branch

Chapter 4

Then

Lois racked up the last of the silverware into the appropriate drawer. "I should head back to Potter's."

"The way's pretty tricky at night. Would you like me to go with you?" asked Clark.

On the one hand, Lois had an excellent sense of direction; an advantage with less-than-stellar GPS' installed in rental cars. On the other hand, any reason to get Clark Kent. Talking. Anything to get Clark Kent talking. She told herself she wanted to converse with him for her story (because the story would be told, just not right now). Going on a moonlit drive in the corn had absolutely nothing to do with the pleasure of his company. The last time Lois lied to herself this badly, she'd stolen an Abrams tank in revenge for bring grounded from prom.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that."

Clark took all of five minutes to corral the chickens into their coops. He slapped at his jeans with an apologetic crook of his eyebrows as she unlocked the car doors.

"The dust," he said.

Lois shrugged his concern away. "I've had sand in unmentionable places. A little dust in the car won't drive me nuts. How're you going to get back home?"

He gave her a little shrug. Every cell in Lois' body told her to push but she told those cells to shut up. Pushing would only make him skittish. Lois had gone on enough "bonding" hunting trips with her dad to know when patience would bag her the bigger prize.

The roads in and out of the Kent farm were more dirt than asphalt. More of that Kansas dust billowed out behind the car. It only took Lois twenty minutes to get from the centre of Smallville to the farm but this time, she kept a light foot on the gas. Clark interrupted the silence with the occasional, "Take that left" or "Turn right after the fence."

As Smallville's three whole traffic lights blinked in the distance, Clark finally spoke an entire sentence. "I'm glad you're all right."

"You helped a little with that," said Lois.

"I meant afterward. Out in the ice. I knew they'd come to investigate but I wasn't sure how long it would take. I'm glad they found you in time." He picked at the lint on his shirt. "I should've dropped you off at the station."

"You helped me even if it meant I saw your face and your abilities. If you were really that worried about keeping your--" Lois flapped a hand as she searched for the appropriate word-- "abilities a secret, you would've left me in that space cave."

Clark's eyes widened. "I couldn't do that."

"You turned a semi into a post-modern sculpture."

"He was being disrespectful to Chrissie."

"Most guys would've just punched it out."

"I'm not most guys."

"So that's what I think," said Lois.

Clark blinked, his brow furrowing.

"You trusted your dad to protect you just like I trusted you back in the Arctic to save me. That makes three of us-- your parents and me-- that know the truth about you and we've pretty much done the opposite of rejection. I stalked you around the world, for fuck's sake."

He didn't reply.

"Besides, I'd rather have a mild case of hypothermia than bleed out in a space cave."

One traffic light and two four-way stops later, Lois pulled into Nell Potter's driveway. She hadn't gotten a lot out of him. She had no idea how to break this to Perry. The Supreme Court was about to rule on the Voting Registration Act. She knew exactly which way those bastards were going to vote and she already had notes for a future editorial so maybe if she pulled those notes together with a couple key interviews from certain states, she could create enough of an upset to make the SCOTUS think twice.

She stepped out of the car the same time Clark did. "Are you gonna wait for me to go inside before you find your mysterious way back home?"

He only smiled at her.

Lois sighed, pretending frustration. To her surprise, she really was pretending. She actually didn't mind not knowing. For now. She tried to tell herself it was only because she knew she could get a better interview out of him in the future.

Clark was leaning against the car as she came around the other side to get to Nell Potter's front door. He always seemed to stand like that outside of his parents' farm; his shoulders curved down, trying to make himself smaller and inconspicuous. She wondered if it was conscious.

"Thank you for coming to dinner," he said.

"Thanks for letting me crash your dinner," Lois replied. "And for trusting me."

He hid the fact that his smile got bigger by kicking at the sidewalk. Adorable. Really. He had to be younger than what his (fake) birth certificate indicated, which made her ogling that much worse because she hadn't seen thirty in a handful of years.

Lois held her hand out to end the uncomfortable conversation in her head. "Well. Good night."

His handshake was firm, his palms dry and exuding heat. "Good night, Lois. Have a safe trip home."

"You too." She made it halfway to the porch before turning around to see him go. She wasn't entirely surprised to find the sidewalk empty. Her phone buzzed, giving her a list of leads to follow in Smallville before she returned to work on Thursday. She deleted it.

Now

Clark awoke with the world's usual cacophony hammering into his bones. He took a breath and imagined an island in the middle of the ocean. Lois curled around his body, her sigh warming the hollow of his throat, her pulse beating against his chest, oranges and rosewood in her hair.

The island swam to him.

~fin~