Proof

by Sue S. <sistersuze@gmail.com>

Rated: PG

Submitted: November, 2006

How do these things get started? In this case, Arawn made a comment in an FDK folder about how Lois would use her sex appeal to get stories. And, somehow, this is what came of it after that idea festered in my mind for a couple of days. This is just a little candy confection... please don't think it's going to contain any kind of realistic characterization or anything.

Many thanks to DJ for encouraging my babbling and catching my mistakes. A PG story, just for you. ;)

<><><>

"Back in your usual dowdy rags today, I see," Cat said, giving Lois' outfit a disapproving shake of her head.

"At least I'm not worried about falling out of my clothes if I sneeze," Lois retorted.

"You never did say if Winninger was falling for your pathetic attempts at seduction before Finn shot him."

Lois fixed her with an icy stare.

"So that's a no?" Cat ventured.

"Yes! Actually, he was! He was practically groping me and making suggestive remarks..."

"What kind of suggestive remarks?" Jimmy asked, unable to stay silent any longer.

"What?" Lois was getting really irritated now.

"Who was making suggestive remarks?" Clark took a seat next to Jimmy, straightening his tie as he sat.

"Nice of you to join us," Lois said pointedly. "Have you ever considered waking up fifteen minutes earlier so you can be on time?"

Clark just smiled and shook his head. "Don't change the subject."

"Lois was going to tell us about her attempt to seduce Dr. Winninger," Cat explained.

"I wasn't trying to *seduce* him! I was dressed to *distract* him enough that maybe he would give me some good stuff."

"Good stuff?" Cat laughed. "Is that a euphemism or did you really think he would just spill his secrets to you?"

"He *was* spilling his secrets to me!"

"Lois, Lois, Lois," Cat said ruefully. "You have a lot to learn about distraction and seduction. Look at you - you could probably pull it off if you gave it half a chance and stopped dressing so frumpy."

"Why would I want to seduce anybody?"

"It's a game. It's power."

"It's an affront to equal rights!"

"Only ugly women get upset over equal rights," Cat sniffed dismissively. "I bet you just couldn't do it, could you?"

"Do what?"

"Seduce, no, make that even just *try* to distract a man."

"As a matter of fact..."

"I'll even bet you." Cat inspected her nails as she spoke. "If I win, and you don't succeed in seducing some bit of information out of a man, then you have to pick up my dry cleaning for the next month."

"So who's the lucky man?" Jimmy asked. "Lex Luthor?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of Superman," Cat smirked.

"You want me to seduce Superman?" Lois was aghast.

"You don't think it can be done?" Cat raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow derisively.

Clark fought a smile. "If anyone could do it, it would be Lois."

Lois shot him an annoyed look. "And I thank you for the vote of support, Kent." She turned her attention back to Cat. "Just what bit of information am I supposed to seduce out of him? He's not that kind of guy, you know."

"Don't be so sure. Why don't you see if you can find out if the suit comes off?"

"And how am I supposed to prove that I asked him? Are you going to take my word for it?"

"Take a picture."

"I bet Superman would just take the suit off if you asked him," Jimmy put in.

"Only if she asked him really nice," Clark added. "But I don't know that he'd let you take a picture."

"It doesn't matter," Lois snapped at them, standing up to move to another seat at the table. "There's no deal and I have a little more self-respect than you might think."

<><><>

Lois was sinking into a funk as she crossed Centennial Park. It had been a day when nothing had gone right. Her source was revealed to be a nutcake, the coffee machine was broken, and she'd had to endure an almost constant barrage of snide remarks from Cat.

What was her problem anyway? It was insane to even contemplate trying to seduce Superman. Mostly it stung to know that Cat was right - she couldn't distract him at all. Hadn't she been trying, oh-so-subtly, to get him to notice her for months now? It was an impossible task. She was never going to see him without the suit.

Suddenly there was a familiar 'whoosh' behind her - a sound that never failed to make her heart skip.

"Superman!" She smiled as she turned around to face him.

"It's a little late to be walking through the park alone, isn't it?"

"Maybe I was hoping you'd show up," she teased.

"Were you?" He tilted his head and looked at her curiously.

"No," she admitted. "I was just taking a shortcut home. What about you? Has it been a busy night?"

"No, not really." His hand touched her elbow briefly to urge her to walk with him. "I was just out flying around and saw you."

"So where do you go when you aren't flying around? Unless that's prying too much. Is that prying too much?"

"Probably not, but I'd prefer not to say." He cleared his throat uneasily.

"Fair enough. I guess I can understand why you wouldn't want people to know where to find you." A few steps later she stopped and looked up at him. "Tell me something, though. Does Clark know where you live?"

His eyebrows furrowed for a moment and then he nodded. "Yes."

"Did you tell him or did he follow you?"

"He sorta helped me move in, I guess you could say."

"Huh." Lois started walking again. She was going to have to lean on Clark. If Cat really wanted her to seduce information out of someone then Clark would be her best bet. "Do you think you'll ever tell me where you live?"

Superman stopped walking and she had to stop abruptly and turn around. He looked almost wistful, but maybe that was the dim lighting. "I hope so. Someday."

"So why not tonight?" Lois spread her arms. "I'm not doing anything and I swear I would never tell."

"It's more complicated than that."

Lois sighed and resumed walking. "That figures."

<><><>

She was elated when Superman insisted on walking her home. Feeling bold, she asked him in only to feel terrified when he accepted. She couldn't ask him. She couldn't do it. But she had to...

"I have to ask you a question. But it's a stupid question and I'm afraid you're going to think I'm an idiot."

"Just ask."

"I... this isn't my question. Well, it is. I mean, I've always wanted to know, in sort of an offhand way. It's not like I think about it constantly or anything. Or even all that often. Maybe it's crossed my mind, that's all I'm saying. Or, you know, crossed the minds of other people. Most particularly the person who dared me to ask you. It's her curiosity I'm satisfying. Plus she implied that I couldn't do it. I don't know, do you think it's a dumb question?"

"You didn't really ask me a question," he pointed out.

"Oh." Her cheeks seemed to be on fire. "I guess I didn't. It's just, well, do you, I mean, does, or can, or do you ever not wear the suit? I mean, you always smell nice so you must bathe or something. Do you take the suit off to bathe?"

He almost laughed. She was going to win the bet but she was going to do it without using a shred of her considerable sex appeal. She was going to babble it out of him. "Yes," he said with a smile. "The suit comes off."

Her eyes went wide. "I knew it!"

"Then why did you ask?"

"It's a two-part question, really. I have to have proof."

"Proof?"

"Yes. You know, like a picture or something. Proof."

This time he did laugh. "You're serious?"

Sensing that he wasn't exactly turning her down, Lois pressed on. "I'm not asking you to strip down all the way! Just maybe the top. Or is the suit an all or nothing kind of deal?"

"Does it mean a lot to you to find out?"

"Oh my god, you have no idea!"

Clark hesitated. On the one hand it would be nice to see Cat put her place. On the other hand the suit was the only insulation he had. Lois had seen him bare-chested before. What if she recognized him? Or maybe she didn't remember seeing him in just a towel? Was it worth the risk?

"I don't know," he hedged.

She looked crestfallen. "Oh. Right. I know. It's a huge imposition. Please, just forget I asked, okay?"

A few awkward seconds went by and then he softly said, "There's a zipper. In back, under the cape." His heart was hammering at the realization of what he was offering her. He pulled his cape over one shoulder and turned around to show her. "There's a zipper."

Lois felt her knees wobble. Was he asking her to unzip him?

He looked back over his shoulder. "Didn't you want proof?"

The slick fabric of his suit felt hot beneath her fingers. She took hold of the zipper, noting that it had a long tab on it, obviously that was how he was able to get it on. "I could, um, I guess just unzip this and take a picture. That should be proof enough, don't you think?"

Clark fisted his hands, clutching his cape tightly. God, her breath on his back was the single most erotic sensation ever. "Yeah," he managed to grit out.

"Okay." Lois bit her lip and pulled on the zipper, slowly revealing the bare golden skin beneath. Down, down, down it slid to the base of his spine. She stared at him for a moment, tantalized by the long vee of exposed flesh and the obvious muscles beneath the spandex that the cape had kept hidden from view. Her fingers itched to touch him.

"I'll, uh, go get my camera," she whispered.

Clark nodded, not trusting his voice. He waited to exhale until she had left the room. It's okay, he told himself. She'll come back, take your picture and you can leave. Fast.

When Lois came back he was still standing like she had left him, the cape drawn over one shoulder and his head slightly bowed. She raised her camera and took two pictures of his back, just in case.

"Got it," she told him. She set the camera down and came back over to zip him up. In an unconscious gesture she put her left hand on his waist as her right hand took hold of the zipper.

Clark shivered when she touched him. "Lois," he breathed and swayed a little on his feet.

When he moved it startled her and she lost the end of the zipper. As she fumbled to regain it the thought crossed her mind that she was having an affect on him. She impulsively leaned forward and kissed the bare skin between his shoulder blades. In the space of a moment she heard him gasp and something darkly delicious slid through her veins.

She was seducing Superman.

Her mouth had gone suddenly dry and she had to clear her throat to work her voice free. "So, um, the cape, I just realized it's not sewn onto the back." She traced her finger over the line of red above the unzipped blue. "How does that work?"

Time to go, his brain cautioned. Time to get the heck out of there. "My shoulders," he whispered. "It's beneath the suit." Please let her want to check. Just let her touch him for a few more minutes and he'd leave.

"Oh, right," Lois murmured.

He hadn't moved and he seemed to be waiting. She sucked in a deep breath and took hold of the upper right half of the suit. He made no protest so she pulled it to the side, not stopping until she had moved it off his shoulder to expose the harness holding the cape in place. She drew her hand down his back, watching the muscles ripple and jump at her touch. There was something so vulnerable about seeing him like this. He wasn't just a superhero. Beneath the suit he was flesh and blood.

Lois hesitated, torn between the urge to pull away the left half of the suit to reveal his entire back and the almost overwhelming need to kiss him again. It would be the easiest thing in the world just to feel his skin beneath her lips one more time. How far would he let her go?

"Are you going to take another picture?" he asked, his voice husky.

She swallowed and tugged his suit back into place. "No. No more pictures."

Clark gasped, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead as he realized just how close to the edge of his self-control he was. He forced himself to stand absolutely still as she drew the zipper closed. She pulled the cape from his unresisting fingers and let it drop between them.

For a few moments neither of them moved. And then he left like a shot, leaving a sharp wind in his wake. Lois went over and shut the window, drawing the curtains closed. She walked over and picked up her camera, looking at it thoughtfully. She had only used seven pictures so far. What else was on the film? She couldn't remember. It didn't matter.

She opened the camera and pulled the film out, watching it turn brown as it was exposed to the light.

It didn't matter.

<><><>

The next morning Cat sashayed into the conference room and sat down next to Lois. "So have you seduced Superman yet?"

"No," Lois replied without looking up.

From across the table Clark gave her a confused look. "No? I thought I saw you in the park with him last night?"

"I saw him last night," Lois allowed, still not looking up. "We talked. And by the way, Cat, the suit does come off."

"Did you get a picture?" Cat laughed.

"No." Lois shook her head. "I just asked him the question and he answered me."

"And I'm just supposed to take your word for it?" Cat asked in an acid tone.

"Didn't you ask him for proof?" Clark asked.

Lois shrugged. "There are all kinds of proof. And sometimes the question you asked isn't the question that gets answered." She looked over at Clark, catching his eye and leaning forward to address him quietly. "You know a lot of his secrets, but that doesn't mean that they should be shared, does it?"

"So what else did he tell you?" Cat pressed. "Obviously you found out something juicy."

"No," Lois shook her head. "He didn't tell me anything. Excuse me." She stood up abruptly and left the room.

"She's lying," Cat muttered in disgust. "I'll bet she didn't even ask him."

"Yes, she did," Clark said thoughtfully, watching through the window as Lois walked back to her desk.

"Then why doesn't she have proof?" Cat countered. "How hard can it be to take a picture?"

"Maybe she decided not to show you?"

"Why? What does she gain by hiding the pictures?"

A smile spread across his face as he answered her. "Proof."

<><><>

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