Lois Lane's Best Christmas

By Dandello <momkat@dandello.net>

Rated: PG

Submitted: February, 2008

Copyright: Dec 8, 2007 Country of first publication, United States of America.

Lois Lane's Best Christmas

A/N: Written for the Secret Santa Ficathon . For CarolM who wanted smoochies.

-o-o-o-

Lois Lane looked around her apartment. For someone who claimed loudly to all who would listen that Christmas was just another holiday and nothing to be taken too seriously, she hadn't done a bad job decorating. She even bought fresh mistletoe and hung it in the passageway to the kitchen.

She studied the dining table. For the first time in years she had gotten out her good silver and polished it. It sparkled against the white tablecloth. She had pulled her china and crystal out of their storage cases. She still didn't understand why her mother had given her all the fancy china-ware and silver when she graduated from college. But it was nice to have on days like this.

The table was beautiful. The food smelled good. She had enough to feed a small army, but the recipes in the book Martha had given her had been for a large party and she didn't know how to cut the recipes in half, much less fourths.

She had managed to find a radio station playing nonstop Christmas music that wasn't too garish or religious and it was playing softly in the background. She lit the red candles on the table then checked her watch. It was passed the time she had told her parents and Lucy she was serving dinner.

Lois sighed and felt the tears welling up in her eyes. They weren't coming. Her own family didn't care enough to spend Christmas Eve with her. Didn't even care enough to call. Everyone else she knew had friends and family to celebrate with. Perry was with Alice. Jimmy was with Angela. They didn't have to be alone on Christmas Eve.

"No, not this year, this year is different, this year I get it..." she said to herself, fighting back the tears, "...and I'm not going to lose it."

It didn't help. She had opened one of the front windows while roasting the turkey. Now the room was getting a little cold. She turned to go close it and heard a familiar whoosh. Superman? But Superman wasn't there. It was only the drapes rustling in the breeze.

Even Superman was too busy to visit her on Christmas Eve. But she decided to leave the window open, just in case he found some time. Does Superman have a place to go tonight? Family and friends to celebrate with? Do Kryptonians even celebrate Christmas?

There was a sharp knock at the door and she hurried to open it. Maybe they're just late.

She opened the door to find Clark standing in her hallway. He smiled as soon as he caught sight of her.

"Clark..." She threw her arms around him and hugged him close. "You came!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, closing the door behind him. "What about Smallville? Your folks?" She knew he had plans to spend Christmas with his parents.

Clark shrugged. "Uh... my plane got snowed in."

"But it's not sn..." She stopped and glanced out the window. The sky was clear and she hadn't heard any announcements on the radio about problems at the airports.

"Well, I'm sure it will," he added with a grin.

"Oh, you are just the best," she announced. "And you are going to get stuffed. I went all out. Turkey, cranberries, potatoes, stuffing..." She ticked the contents of the table off on her fingers. "Hey, did you know you have to make stuffing? It doesn't just come on the side?"

"I think I heard that someplace. I have a present for you," he said softly. He indicated the silver wrapped box in his hand. She hadn't noticed it before. "You might want to open it," he suggested.

She took the small box and tore the wrapping off. She slipped the top off the box and looked inside.

"I told Superman your story about the tree when you were twelve..." Clark began. He stepped over to the little droopy tree she had decorated with tinsel and ribbons. "...and we thought this might look good on this little guy."

Lois was a little surprised Clark had shared her story with Superman, but in retrospect, she realized that of course Clark would have told the superhero about the tiny tree she'd bought for herself and Lucy when her parents forgot Christmas in their anger at one another. Superman seemed to share more with Clark than anyone else.

She pulled out the contents of the box - a beautiful, star-shaped crystal that glowed with an inner light. "It's beautiful," she murmured. "I've never seen anything like it. Where...?"

Clark pointed upward and smiled.

"Oh..." Trust Superman to find something not only beautiful but literally out of this world. She placed the crystal on the top of her tree then stepped back to look at it critically. Nothing was going to make the tree more than it was - a scrawny runt. But the glow made it look a little better. She promised herself that next year's tree would deserve the crystal star on its top.

"I love it," she murmured. Clark had moved to stand beside her and she slipped her hand into his. She watched him glance down at their intertwined hands then he looked into her eyes. Would he? Would he make the next move? He had once told her that he loved her. He took it back later, saying he had lied but sometimes she wondered which was the lie ... that he loved her as more than just a friend, or that he didn't?

The sound of singing wafted through to still open window.

"Carolers," Lois said stating the obvious.

"Yes," Clark agreed. They moved together to the window and looked down at the street below to see a group of teenagers bundled against the cold. They had stopped in front Lois's apartment building and were regaling the front apartments. Lois smiled wistfully, looking into the sky. It was starting to cloud over. She remembered hearing that snow was expected over night.

"I wonder where Superman spends his Christmas?" she wondered aloud. She heard the distant chime of sleigh bells like Perry had on his Santa sled earlier in the evening. "Oh. He must still be pulling Perry around on the sleigh."

She caught the confused look on Clark's face. "Perry had a date with Alice, remember?" Clark reminded her. She shivered and realized how cold the room was getting. She closed the window after waving to the carolers.

"Oh, damn..." Lois moaned. "Dinner's going to be cold."

"That's okay, Lois," Clark assured her. "We can always warm things up in the microwave, right?"

He held one of the chairs out for her and as soon as she was settled, took the carving set and began to cut up the turkey.

"This is my first time carving a turkey," he confessed sheepishly when the pieces came away in chunks. "I guess I should have paid more attention to my dad when he did it."

"That's okay," she assured him. "It's my first time putting everything together like this by myself... And don't expect it to happen again for a long, long time."

He put a few slices of turkey on her plate, then placed some on his own plate before he settled into the chair nearest her. Potatoes, dressing, sweet potato souffle, and cranberries followed the turkey into his plate. She watched as he took a bite of the dressing. His slightly wary look was replaced by a pleased smile.

"It's wonderful," he told her. "It's just like my mom's."

"It's your mom's recipe," she admitted. "My long distance bill is going to be humongous. I was on the phone with her all day yesterday."

"My mom gave you her dressing recipe?" He sounded like he didn't believe it. "My mom doesn't give that recipe to anybody! I don't have a copy of it."

"Well, I did promise not to share it," Lois said. "It's really okay?"

"It's wonderful," Clark told her. "But you know what this means, don't you?"

"You're expecting me to do this next year too?" Lois asked.

"No," Clark said. "It means my mom has decided to keep you. In fact, she's probably wondering why we haven't announced our engagement."

"Um, shouldn't we at least date a few times before taking that step?" Lois asked. She wasn't sure if he was serious or not about his mother's ideas about them.

"That would probably be a good idea," Clark admitted. "Would you like to go out with me?"

"You mean on a real date, where I put perfume behind my ears and put on my best manners and we don't talk about work?" Lois put her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her folded hands. She regarded him mischievously.

"We may not have anything to talk about if we leave out work," he pointed out.

"You know what I mean. Not planning out our next article or chasing down a lead... That sort of date."

"Uh, yeah. That sort of date."

"So, tell me about this date. What did you have in mind?" she asked. She watched his face as he tried to compose his thoughts. She found it fascinating to watch him thinking, the way his forehead wrinkled ever so slightly when he was deep in thought ... or when she threw him a curve ball. Like now.

"Okay. I would pick you up and you'd be dressed kinda like you are now and we'd go to someplace like LeMarvin Bistro..."

"LeMarvin? Ooh, that's gonna set you back some," she said, chuckling. LeMarvin Bistro was one of the most expensive and exclusive restaurants in the city.

Clark shrugged. "Well, I've got to impress my girl, don't I?"

She chuckled. Even Lex Luthor had used dinner at LeMarvin to impress his more impressionable dates.

"And then?" she prompted.

"And then, if the weather's okay, we'd stroll along the River Walk..."

"Holding hands?"

"I believe that is part of the ritual, yes," he said with a grin. "And then, assuming everything's gone okay... You haven't been kidnapped or shot at or needed Superman to rescue you from something completely unbelievable..."

"And you haven't run off to deal with something you've forgotten to do that is equally unbelievable..." she added with a smirk.

"Or that," he conceded. "But assuming none of that happened, I would, at some point, kiss you."

His tone was light but she could see the longing in his eyes. He lied when he said he didn't love me that way. And where did I ever get the idea that his eyes were mud brown? His eyes are exactly the same color as...

'Lois Lane, that is the stupidest idea you've ever had.' She berated herself mentally but another small voice protested meekly. He's about the same size, the same coloring, and have you ever actually seen them together, side-by-side? Has anyone?

There's a way to find out.

"So, are you going to?" she asked him.

"Going to what?"

"Kiss me?" She almost laughed at his befuddled expression. "It's Christmas Eve and I do have some mistletoe around here somewhere..."

In answer, he leaned close to her and brushed his lips against hers. His lips were warm and soft. A tingle of electricity ran from her lips to her toes. She had felt that jolt twice before. Once when Superman kissed her on the tarmac after he'd been sprayed with Miranda's pheromone solution. The other time was in the honeymoon suite at the Lexor ... when Clark had kissed her to throw off the room attendant who had walked in on them.

But he hadn't given her a proper kiss this time. She grabbed his face and pulled him toward her again. She gave him a kiss that sent a soul-searing jolt down her body. Superman's kiss had been like that ... electric. She pulled back slightly to look into Clark's face. His eyes were dark with desire but there was a twinge of surprise there, too. She remembered where she had seen exactly that expression before ... on Superman, when Lois had thrown caution to the wind and decided to take advantage of the pheromone's effect on him.

"Wow," he murmured.

"Yeah, wow." She glanced around. They were still sitting at the table. "This isn't exactly the best place to continue this."

"Where do you suggest?" he managed to get out.

She gestured to the sofa then took his hand to lead him there. He seemed befuddled by her attitude. She loved it when she was able to do that to her partner.

Clark looks like Superman. He kisses just like Superman. Could I be so lucky? One way or another, this is going to be so fun... This has got to be my best Christmas EVER!

-o-o-o-

CarolM's wish list:

*Three things I want in my fic:* 1.Smoochie 2.Christmas fic 3.Early relationship

*Preferred season(s): Probably 2...*

*Three things I do not want in my fic:* 1.Nfic 2.Deter, Lex, Mayson, Scardino, etc 3.Tempus, Wells, Andrus, etc.

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