Bless the Broken Road

[Cardinal]

Chapter 57 - A New Name

Figuring that the warmest time of the day up north would be just after noon, Clark showed up by 10 a.m. to make sure Kathy was dressed and ready to go on time.

Clark made his way into the house after parking his truck by the curb out front and said, “Hey, I’m home.” Noting the underwhelming response to his arrival, Clark wandered around the house, looking to see where everyone was. He found Martha in her second floor crafts room, working on her newest hobby: painting.

When she looked up from her easel, Martha adjusted her paint-smeared smock and said, “Hi, Clark. It’s good to see you!”

Clark leaned over his mom and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “What are you painting, Mom?”

“Well…it’s supposed to be a simple still-life, but I’m no longer sure how simple it really is. Anyway, I have to have it to turn in Tuesday night when I go to my art class, so I need to get this done tonight so it can dry thoroughly.”

Clark scanned the rest of the house with his x-ray vision. Finding no one else, he asked, “Where are Kathy and Dad? I thought Kathy would be getting dressed by now.”

“They’re out in the garage, working on Jonathan’s truck together. They went for a long walk after your game last night…that was a nice comeback by the way…”

“Thanks.”

“…anyway, they had a heart-to-heart chat about how he would always be her dad and that she loved him very much.” Martha rinsed out her fan brush and set it down on the lip of the easel. “You know how much of a curmudgeon your father can be sometimes, but he came home from that walk smiling from ear-to-ear and, if I‘m not mistaken, he might have cried a bit while he was gone.”

Clark raised his eyebrows in surprise, and said, “That’s a surprising show of consideration from her.”

“I was surprised, too. Mainly because the whole idea for a private talk was Kathy’s in the first place.” After a brief pause, Martha added, “Looking ahead and trying to soften the impact that her visit with Jor-El might have on her father is not the kind of thinking I’m used to seeing from Kathy. I think I detect the subtle hand of Lana Lang in this.”

Martha was watching Clark carefully to see just how he reacted to the mention of Lana’s name. After Lana’s revelations from last night, anything was possible.

This time, Clark froze. He’s definitely upset, Martha thought. I wonder what his version of the story is?

Martha broke Clark out of his catatonic state with a loud snap of her fingers. When his head turned back to her, all he said was, “Garage, right?”

“Yes, Kathy and your father are out in the garage. He’s working on his truck and, knowing Jonathan, Kathy’s contribution is likely limited to giving encouragement...maybe if you give him some help, he’ll get done faster.”

“Okay, Mom.” Clark stopped halfway out the door and said, “Though me helping Dad usually consists of me holding one end of the truck overhead while he does the repair work.”

Martha smiled at her son as he headed toward the garage. He saw immediately that the door on the detached garage was raised and he could hear a slightly raised voice that indicated his dad was about to become angry with his old Ford F-150.

Today, Clark thought, Ford must stand for: Found On Road, Dead. Clark hurried into the garage and asked, “Can I do anything to help, Dad?”

Startled, Jonathan jumped and just avoided banging his head on the steel hood of his truck. Kathy was nearby, perched on a stack of old tires where she could see everything but keep out of the way. “Hi, Son,” Jonathan said. “As a matter of fact, there is something you could do. This last spark plug won’t come out, no matter what I do. Do you think you could coax that plug out of its socket?”

“I don’t see why not.” Taking the ratchet with the extension, Clark looked over at Kathy and said, “You need to get dressed if you intend to head up north with me today, Half-Pint.”

“What time is it?” Kathy asked.

“It’s after ten. You need to get a move on. I bet Mom will help you dress if you ask.”

“Oh!” Kathy hopped off the tires and gave Clark a quick hug and congratulations for the win against Texas before she ran inside.

Jonathan smiled as he watched her curly blonde hair disappear around the corner. “Kathy’s right, Clark. You guys beat a top twenty team on the road. That’s nothing to sneeze at.”

Once the recalcitrant spark plug was out of the engine and in Clark’s hand, he said, “Yeah, but we should have beaten them much worse than we did. If I had my mind on football like I should have, we probably would have scored three more times at least, making those fourth-quarter heroics unnecessary.”

Thinking back to last night, it occurred to Jonathan what might be occupying Clark’s thoughts. “Lana was here last night, Clark.”

Clark’s head whipped around like it was on a swivel, and his eyes opened wide upon hearing that. “Why? Did she come over to watch the game?”

“Well…she did stay for the game, but she was here initially to take your sister out shopping for her birthday…Kathy had to talk her into staying.” Clark looked like he had just bitten a lemon. “Clark, is there anything you’d like to tell me about?”

Clark leaned back against the frame of the truck and wiped the grease from his hands with a rag his dad had sitting on top of the fender and then said, “Lana and I got into a huge fight the other day. I don’t know if we will be able to come back from this.”

When Jonathan asked exactly what happened, Clark told him every excruciating detail, from the slap until he drove Lana home. He then told about Lana’s tearful apology, his refusal to forgive her, and her subsequent pursuit of him all over campus, which was topped off by her unexpected appearance at the team bus on Friday. Jonathan was floored by everything he heard and when Clark told him that Chloe said there actually was a tape, which was sitting unwatched on his bedside table, Jonathan’s jaw just about hit the concrete floor of the garage.

“It wasn’t me, Dad, honest!” Clark said. “I’ve never been with any woman, much less a skank like Candy.”

“A skank? Don’t you think you’re being a little bit harsh?”

“Dad, that girl has more mileage on her than your truck does. Chloe told me Elaine found out that the tape was a fake made by Candy, and that she made the tape to try and break Lana and me apart.”

Knowing that Clark almost never spoke that way about anyone, much less a woman, he had to assume that his son knew what he was talking about. Returning to the important part of the story, Jonathan said, “Let me get this straight. Lana apologized, you believed she was serious and accepted her apology, but refused to forgive her. Right so far?”

When Clark nodded yes, Jonathan continued, “Then she popped up all over campus, determined to win you back I would assume, and then turned your heart into a puddle of goo with that sign of hers.”

“Hey! I didn’t say that!” Clark protested.

“Your mouth didn’t, Son…but your eyes did.” Jonathan gave Clark a wry smile and said, “I’ll bet a month of Martha’s desserts that if Lana had found a way onto your bus right then, you would have been the one begging her to take you back. At least that explains why your mind was elsewhere last night.”

Clark reluctantly allowed that Lana had been a huge distraction during the first half of the game and then said, “We might have lost except Coach Fordman, who happens to be from Smallville, pulled me aside at halftime and told me I had to put Lana behind me and focus on the game. When I squeezed her to the back of my mind, my game came back and we won.”

Jonathan carefully studied his son and then casually said, “So…what are you going to do about Lana?”

Clark looked at his toes, apparently hoping for advice from Planet Reebok, and mumbled, “I don’t know. I still love her, but she shattered my trust when she believed her eyes more than her heart.” Clark kicked a pebble across the floor and out into the driveway. “The funny thing is, it took this happening for me to learn that it’s actually harder for me to trust someone with my heart than it is for me to trust them with my secrets. I know, in my heart, that Lana will take my secrets to her grave…but trusting her with my heart again is too hard to do.”

“So what will you do?” Jonathan reiterated.

“I can’t take her back, I just can’t. No matter how much I love her, I’ve got to find a way to get that idea across to her.”

“What? Before she breaks down your resistance and makes you do what you really want to do?” Jonathan forestalled a reply by Clark with a raised hand. “I’ve just got one more thing for you to consider and then I’ll leave this topic alone. You said Candy made that tape for the express purpose of ending your relationship with Lana…do you realize that if you don’t get back together with Lana, Candy will have won?”

Taken aback by this new view of things, Clark slumped to the floor and sat there until he heard Martha call from the back door to say that Kathy was ready to go. When he reached the basement, Kathy was standing in front of the doorway to the unused storeroom. Her eyes, and her thoughts, were focused on the octagonal depression in the lintel, so she did not notice Clark approach.

He held the octagonal key out in front of Kathy’s eyes and said, “Here, you do the honors. After all, you’re part of the El family, too.”

Kathy reverently took the disk from Clark and asked, “What do I do with it?”

Clark stood right behind his sister and said, “Just hold it in the air right in front of the depression. Once you get close enough, the disk will do the rest.”

Moving cautiously, Kathy slowly lifted the disk into the air. When her hand reached the same level as the depression, she stepped forward, first one step then another, then…with no warning, the disk lurched out of her hand, oriented itself, and slammed into its space in the lintel. Kathy was surprised and then delighted to see this bit of ‘magic.’ When the symbols on the disk turned red, yellow, and blue, the doorframe began to glow a bluish-white, and Kathy was in awe. As the glow increased in intensity, Kathy began to get scared. She took comfort, however, from the fact that Clark had done this many times and was standing right behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

Once the doorway was completely filled with the glow, Clark leaned forward slightly and said, “Okay, Kathy, time to take your first step toward a wider world.” Kathy inhaled deeply and stepped forward, landing mere seconds later in the Fortress of Solitude thousands of miles away.

Clark was right behind her, as his hands had never left her shoulders, and so he heard her first reaction: “Oh…crap!” Her head swung around quickly as she tried to absorb the sights that were, quite literally, alien to her. There were majestic walls of ice and crystal that seemed to reach for the very heavens and only Clark’s steadying hands kept her from falling on the uneven terrain of the Fortress as she rubbernecked like an expressway driver passing a traffic accident scene.

They reached the control console before Kathy was able to say anything else. “This is beautiful, Clark.”

Leave it to Kathy to see this place with a different perspective, Clark thought. I always thought this place looked kind of sterile, sort of like an extraterrestrial operating room.

Clark reached to a far corner of the console to pick up a particular crystal, which he held out to his sister. “This is how we talk to the memory and intelligence that was Jor-El of Krypton…my father, and the man who made it possible for you to be born.”

Once again, Kathy gingerly accepted what Clark held out to her. “What do I do with this, Clark?”

Saying nothing, Clark took her small hand in his and guided it to the proper tube. When their hands were properly positioned, Clark said, “Now, let it go.”

The crystal slid into the tube and a three-dimensional hologram of a gray-haired, middle-aged man appeared. He was clothed from top to bottom in a silver robe that sparkled as if actually made from the metal itself. Emblazoned in the middle of the robe was an irregular black pentagon inscribed with a black letter S that touched all five sides of the pentagon.

The man spoke with a careworn voice, and said, “Kal-El, Son, how may I…” He broke off in mid-sentence as he realized someone else was with Clark. Clearly surprised, Jor-El took a few seconds regaining his equilibrium before adding, “…and daughter, whom I never thought to see. You are most welcome, Young One.” Jor-El studied Kathy intently and then asked, “What is your name, Child?”

“Kathy Louise Kent, Sir.”

In a voice that Clark had never heard before, a voice filled with emotion, Jor-El said, “Kathy Louise Kent. So they honored my choice after all. After all these years, I am still partial to the name Louise.”

Uncertain of what to do next, Kathy said tentatively, “Thank you, Sir…Father.”

The hologram smiled and Jor-El’s kindly voice said, “I think that a most excellent name for an Earth child…but a daughter of Krypton is entitled to another name. If you will have it, that is?”

“Clark, I mean Kal-El, has two names, so I guess I can have two also, Father.”

Another broad smile from Jor-El preceded him saying, “Wonderful. For you, I have one prepared. To honor my wife and your Earth mother, I will call you Mara…so your full name is Mara Jor-El.” Smiling beatifically, Jor-El asked, “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Clark answered, “Well, Jor-El, we have a small problem. Ka…Mara has begun manifesting Kryptonian abilities and she needs to know what to expect…”

[treker]

Better an better Cardinal. Horray for Jonathan...I think he finally got thru Clark's thick skull. Better to take Lana back than to let Candy win.

Hail to the newest superhero "MARA JOR-EL". Nice name.

[happycamper]

:) :)


You know, I almost missed your update. I had been been busy with my own, and had just logged out, when I saw this at the top of the board...:\

Jonathan = True perspective on life.

Clark = BDA!!!

Jor-El is very different here. Much kinder and more 'loving,' I think. :)

But where is our Clana! :mad: :(


Post more when you can... :D

[closetfan]

woa crap...almost fell asleep and missed my fav story...

great update

[Nemu]

I like Jonathan in this one... He sees deeper than Clark would like to admit..

so... Mara Jor-El uh? nice name...

Clark don't be stupid... you need to take Lana back... we all make mistakes...

PPMS Card :D

[deanyouk]

nice update... why Mara Jor-el... and not just Mara-El??

anyhow... ppms

[SVsleuth]

Cool update, Card. Loved Jonathan pointing out the obvious to Clark about Candy winning - and about how Lana's sign turned him to goo. ;)

Your Jor-El is a kind and loving father. I like that. And Mara Jor-El is a perfect Kryptonian name for Kathy, blending Martha and Lara's names. I understand that the female Kryptonians always take the father's full name for a surname - like Kara Zor-El, in the mythos. So this makes sense. Nice update.

Can't wait for Jor-El's advice to Mara. Then on to a Clark & Lana meeting....I hope. ;) PPMS!

[NYC300Z]

Awesome update Card! I hope Clark thinks hard about what his Dad said to him!;)

PPMS!

[tygershot]

I hope Clark takes his head out of you know where and forgives Lana soon! Great update! PPMS!

[clanas1ally]

AWESOME

[MOOman0618]

Super update Card!!!

Jonathan creeping into Clark's head a little bit is great! He is gonna be crawling back to Lana soon. :)

And Mara Jor-El...that is an awesome name! Nice touch with the Louise also. :) I am can't wait to hear what Jor-El has to tell Kathy/Mara about her new powers and if she has a destiny too.

POST MORE SOON!!!

[superman_lives_on]

Jonathan Kent is a very wise man. He pointed out to Clark that by refusing to do what his heart really wants, he's only vindicating that ***** Candy.

And Jor-El... WOW. He looks and seems very much like Marlon Brando's version, only less stiff and even kinder. And we FINALLY get to see the S-shield--which is, as in the movies, the crest of the House of El. We are definitely NOT in Smallville.

PPMS! Let's hope that Lana's persistence, Elaine and Chloe's work, and Jonathan's wisdom will prove to be enough to destroy Clark's barriers of cynicism! :D

[akuma]

PPMS, loved the update Card, now maybe Clark can finally be back with Lana, and wht else does Jor El have to say??

[annaliese]

i loooovvvveeee this story... post more soon!!!!!

[Dr. Jeckyll]

Great update, Card. I think Clark and Lana are close to a reunion.. And thank God for that! We've had enough torture! ;) I love your Jor-El. He seems like a very kind and wise man. PPMS!

[SpeedyKate91]

Awsome Update!!!! ppms!!!!!!

[maitriniazngurl]

Card that was soo..good.

Clark stop being so thick headed and take her back already. You love her and she loves you. What more do you want? :D

[C.A.chick]

OK! I'm here to talk, talk, talk about your latest updates. I seemed to have neglected doing so. For which I am truly sorry.

First off: Holy Cow! Lana sure is one determined girl. Showing up everywhere in sexy clothes, and then showing up a little less to throw Clark off. And then the sign. Oh dear, Lana you better win Clark back.

Second: Clark! I know he's upset, but why can't he see that he and Lana are still in love and that with out her, his life is a wreck.

Third: Go Kathy! Or should I say Mara Jor-El? Yay, we've now got a mini superhuman. I love her new power, forcefield.

Fourth: Card! Those were some AWESOME updates, even though they weren't filled with happy clana. Great job! PPMASAP!

[Cardinal]

Hey, C.A. chick. It's nice to see you back. I thought you had been swallowed by an earthquake or something.

[C.A.chick]

Hehe... Yeah, actually it was more like a tidal wave of school work. But I'm back and loving your story. I read all the updates but I never reallly had time to reply. Well, I guess I'll just have to wait for an update now.

[Cardinal]

Hey, C.A. chick, your PM box is full.

[annaliese]

update soon!!!

[Cardinal]

This update is getting so long, that I'm splitting it in two. I may be able to post the other half tonight.



Chapter 58 - Confrontation

The whole time that Jor-El was talking to his daughter, Clark was staring at the hologram as if it had short-circuited. To Clark, Jor-El had always been a dry, emotionless font of knowledge; supportive, but never happy with anything less than Clark’s best. This kindly father figure was a true surprise.

Jor-El seemed to know what was running through Clark’s mind, and he waited for Clark to refocus on the matter at hand before responding.

“What ability has she shown?” Jor-El asked.

“Mara has gained the ability to project a force-field. After some practice, she can control the location, size, shape, and color of the field. She had also learned that a smaller field can be made stronger than a large one.” Looking quickly at Kathy, Clark said, “We were wondering how, exactly, she is doing this.”

Jor-El had Kathy demonstrate her ability several times, the last few times he appeared to be focusing on her more than on the force-field she created. Hands clasped behind his back, Jor-El paced back and forth before coming to a stop and saying, “Mara’s ability to project a force-field is actually closely linked to your invulnerability, Kal-El. Your invulnerability is caused by an energy field you generate that stays close to your skin. That field is generated continuously, without conscious thought.

“Her ability generates the same energy field that your invulnerability does, except she appears to need to concentrate to create the field in the first place. She then focuses that energy on a particular location instead of it automatically covering her body. Like your invulnerability, her force-fields will likely become stronger the older she gets.” Jor-El rubbed his chin with his hand. “The tradeoff between the extra flexibility of use that your sister gets and the constant protection that you get is interesting.”

A question that had always bothered Clark came to his mind just then. “Is that energy field the reason why my shoes get destroyed when I run, but close-fitting clothes are unharmed, even when I fly?”

“Yes,” Jor-El said. “The footwear you prefer has soles that are thick enough to extend well beyond the boundaries of your energy field, but only the loosest clothing would extend beyond the boundary of your energy field.”

Kathy urgently tugged on Clark’s sleeve, and as he leaned down, she whispered in his ear. Clark smiled and turned back to relay her question to Jor-El. “Mara wants to know if she can expect any more abilities.”

Jor-El smiled at Kathy as she blushed furiously, and he said, “Mara…is unique among Kryptonian women. Not only does half of her genetic makeup come from Earth, but Kryptonian women have never come to Earth before. What abilities she may acquire are completely unknown. The fact that her first ability waited for what the humans call ‘puberty’ to first manifest itself, and the fact that her ability is related to, but different from, one of yours, strongly indicate that her development will differ substantially from yours Kal-El.”

When Clark judged that it was time to be going home, he sent Kathy back through the portal and then followed her home. By the time she changed back into her regular clothes, Martha had a steaming cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows waiting for her in the kitchen. As Kathy warmed up, she told her story to her anxious parents, needing only occasional clarifications from Clark, and in return, the Kents told them about the Sharks’ game. When they were finished, Martha said. “Oh, Kathy, Lana called. She wants you to call her so she can find out what happened today.”

Clark grimaced and took that as his key to leave. He shook hands with Jonathan and hugged and kissed the women before seeing himself out.

Lana had thought Clark and Kathy would be home long before now. She was both curious and nervous about what was happening to her ‘little sister,’ so she had headed over to the Kents’ to wait and was just pulling to a stop behind Clark’s truck as he came out of the house. When she saw Clark, she realized she had a golden opportunity to talk to him, and so she drove her SUV so close to the bumper of Clark’s truck that he couldn’t back it out of the space. Clark’s slight grimace turned into a full-fledged frown as he saw Lana’s SUV come to a final halt mere inches from his truck.

As Lana stepped down out of the SUV, Clark saw that her hair was carelessly wrapped in a knot at the back of her head. She was wearing an unbuttoned blue windbreaker, with what appeared to be a white blouse underneath. Form-fitting, slightly-worn blue jeans and her favorite pair of brown leather half boots finished off her ensemble. Damn, Clark thought, she shouldn’t be allowed to look that good when I’m still mad at her. Just the sight of her set off a whirling mass of emotions in his head: anger, joy, hurt, and love were the ones most readily identifiable for Clark.

Coming around the back bumper of her SUV, Lana got a better look at Clark and admired his tousled black locks, chiseled face, and the almost careless way he wore his unzipped red jacket, blue t-shirt, and well-faded blue jeans. He looks like a dream, Lana thought. My dream, to be exact, and here’s the next step in making him mine once again.

Lana tucked her hands in her back pockets and said, “Hi, Clark.”

Forced by his basic politeness to respond, Clark said awkwardly, “Oh…hi, Lana.”

“I remember a time not so long ago when you said my name with excitement, happiness, and even passion…and now all I elicit from you is a reluctant hello,” Lana said. “How far we have fallen in so short a time.”

“You might remember that wasn’t my fault,” Clark replied testily.

“I do remember that Clark, it kills me to know that I caused this…this rift between us. I wish I had never said those horrible words to you,” Lana looked away from Clark and added, “but wishes don’t matter much right now. I did say those things and even though I was misled by someone else, I take full responsibility for my actions.”

“Gee, taking the blame for your own actions is mighty generous of you, Lana,” Clark said sarcastically. He paused, not quite sure how to say what he felt. “Lana, you don’t quite understand. I know you’re sorry for what happened, but this isn’t about me waiting for you to own up to your mistake, it’s about me being able to trust you with my heart again.

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know. One of those things is that even though I’ve had a lot of dates with various women, I’ve only had two serious girlfriends in my entire life.” Revisiting this memory was not going to be easy for Clark, but he thought he had to if Lana was going to understand. “The first one was Lori Lemaris. We dated for nearly a year and I thought I was as happy as a man could get. I finally worked up the nerve to propose last November. I was on pins and needles as I waited for her reply, and when she started to smile, I thought her answer was ‘Yes.’ But when the tears started, first a trickle and then a torrent, I knew she wouldn’t say yes.”

Lana took a step forward, wanting nothing more than to comfort him, but Clark took a step back and kept himself out of her reach. There’s our relationship in a nutshell right now, Lana thought. He’s keeping himself away from me physically and emotionally.

Lana had to content herself with drawing the whole story out of him. “What happened,” she asked.

“She said she loved me, more than she had ever hoped to love anyone, but that she couldn’t marry me. She went on to explain why she couldn’t, and I have to admit, her reason was impeccable. She had to go home to her people, to a life that was waiting for her. To know that there was no room for me in her future was tough, but knowing why she couldn’t marry me made our sudden break up a little bit easier to take.”

“Her people?” Lana asked. “What could be more important than being with the one you love?”

Picking up both meanings of what she just said, Clark studied Lana’s face before choosing to answer the surface question, “I can’t tell you that, Lana. Exactly why she couldn’t marry me is her secret.

“Anyway, it took me a good nine, almost ten months to get over her…and then I found another woman. Very different from Lori, but just as special. I‘ll admit that the first thing I noticed about her was her extraordinary physical beauty. But it was how comfortable I was around her, how I felt I could tell her anything, that first caught my heart. After that, her other perfections just made me fall for her faster. She liked being in my world and was able to get me to try hers. With her, I was so much more then when I was by myself.”

Clark was sniffling by now and looking at his toes, but he still would not let Lana in close. He sucked in a deep breath and said quietly, “And then she threw it all away. Two girlfriends, two painful breakups…I don’t know if I can stand a third.”

When Clark looked back up at her, his face was contorted with anger. “Why? I gave you everything I have. Why couldn’t you have just a little bit of faith in me?” Clark ran his hands through his hair, and shouted, “I’m so mad at you right now, Lana, that I can’t even think straight! We had something special and you trashed it! And then you had the nerve to come back to me and expect me to take you back like nothing happened. It doesn‘t work that way.” His last words were a direct quote from the night she dumped him, “Don’t come back here, Lana. What’s between us now isn’t fixable.”

Lana was at a loss for anything to say. She supposed it was a good thing that Clark was finally venting his anger at her, but to hear those things coming from his mouth was so hard to take…all the more so because he was right. Lana had twin tear tracks trailing down her cheeks and she watched in silence as Clark headed for his truck. When he reached the door, he just pointed back to her SUV as if to ask, ‘Are you going to move this or not?’

Heartsick, Lana stepped up to her door and said, “Answer me this one question truthfully, Clark. If you can honestly say ‘no,’ I will agree to your request.”

Looking back at Lana warily, Clark said, “Okay.”

Putting all the passion for Clark that she possessed into the question, Lana asked, “Do you still love me?”

Knowing he had promised her a truthful answer, Clark said, “I never stopped loving you. Not for a minute. Not for a second. It’s what makes this so hard.”

“For both of us, Clark. It’s what makes it so hard for both of us.” Lana slid her hand into her back pocket and pulled out a carefully folded slip of paper. As she opened it, she said, “This is something I’ve been carrying around to remind me where I failed you…failed us…and to remind me of the girlfriend I want to be.” Looking at the sheet, she read, “Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Looking up as she concluded reading, Lana said, “I failed the trust test utterly, but you will come to know my patience in the days ahead. In the face of your declaration that we are through, I’ll keep my hopes high. My perseverance goes hand in hand with my patience…I will not quit on you, Clark. My love for you will never fail.”

Lana popped open her door, but before climbing in, she had one last thing to say. “Until you can honestly say you don’t love me, I’m going to be there, waiting for you, because I know you are worth it.”

The Kents had heard Clark shouting and had come to the door to see what was the matter and thus, had witnessed Lana’s declaration. Jonathan looked at Martha and said quietly, “I’ve never seen someone declare war on another person’s heart before. I wonder if our son knows just what he is in for?”

After moving her SUV, Lana stood on the side of the road and blew Clark a kiss as he drove off. Unaware she had had an audience, Lana turned for the house where the Kents were waiting on the porch to envelop her in a group hug.

“Just be there, Lana,” Martha said, “Clark will come around eventually.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Kent. I need all the encouragement I can get right now.”

Once Lana dried her tears on Jonathan’s handkerchief, she asked, “Where is Kathy? I actually came here to see how her big day went. I got too nervous waiting at home.”

“Knowing her, she’s locked in her room calling you over and over again.”

That made Lana reach into her purse and pull out her cell phone. “Oops, I always turn it off when I drive, especially in Metropolis traffic.” Thumbing through her messages, Lana found that Kathy had called her eleven times already. Pressing a button to activate the call back function, Lana was rewarded with an instant pickup.

“Hi, Lana!” Kathy said.

As Lana headed inside and up the stairs, she smiled and said, “Hi, yourself. How did your visit go?”

Kathy prepared to retell the events of the day, but was stopped by a knock on her door. “Wait a sec, someone’s at my door.” Kathy opened the door and squealed with delight to see Lana waiting. “Come on in.”

Closing the door behind Lana, Kathy plopped down on her bed after Lana took the desk chair. “Before we get to my day, there’s something I overheard this morning that I think you ought to hear.”

“What?”

“I heard Dad and Clark talking about you. I’m sad you two broke up and maybe you can explain what happened to me later, but what you need to know right now is that Dad told Clark that 'he would bet a whole month of Mom’s desserts that if you had managed to sneak onto the bus Friday afternoon, Clark would have begged you to take him back.' You’re close, Lana, don’t give up on Clark yet.”

[Nemu]

1st?

Well I guess this time my feedback comes fast ;)

this story is soo good... I love how the Kents knowing Clark can support Lana in her mission to reclaim his heart...

I hope you can post part 2 today.!!

[happycamper]

:) :)


On another thread, you mentioned an impending car wreck in this story...is Lana going to give up?

Would serve the idiot right...


Looking forward to tonight's post!

[superman_lives_on]

You're wrong, Clark. This WILL be fixed--you can count on it.

Kathy rules! And Jor-El...I'm liking him still. :D

PPMS!

[SVsleuth]

:):):):)
OOooo... we got to see an angry Clark. Well, hopefully venting his anger will help him move past it.

It also was cool to learn more about Kathy's ability and how it is similar to, yet different from Clark's invulnerability. Cool that Clark got to see a softer side of Jor-El than he had known previously.

And this part summed up beautifully where Clark and Lana's relationship stands right now:

Lana took a step forward, wanting nothing more than to comfort him, but Clark took a step back and kept himself out of her reach. There’s our relationship in a nutshell right now, Lana thought. He’s keeping himself away from me physically and emotionally.

I loved that the Kents, including Kathy, are supporting Lana, in her waiting for Clark to come aorund. This will help Lana not to give up. Now on to the rest of the update, where we'll hopefuly see just how much perseverence Lana really has. I love that she is clinging to that scripture verse to help her hang on through this rough time. I'm guessing that if they ever marry, that passage will be read at the wedding, as at most weddings.
:cool:

PPMS! - (Like tonight! ;))

[deanyouk]

I love this story, the way you write is excellent.

It's amazing how Johnathan and Martha still warm up so well to Lana even though Clark is not with her, and still route her along to win back his heart. I can't wait for that update....

ppms

[akuma]

Great update Card, its good Clark was finally able to vent, cant wait to see wht else Lana has got up her sleeve!

[treker]

Originally posted by C.A.chick
Hehe... Yeah, actually it was more like a tidal wave of school work. But I'm back and loving your story. I read all the updates but I never reallly had time to reply. Well, I guess I'll just have to wait for an update now.

okay...sorry, I didn't see the update. Clark's will power is finally crumbling. Despite his confession of fear in loving lana. I know he won't be able to resist her.

all she's got to do is keep putting herself in situations where he must protect her. He'll cave. I know it.

nice update card.

:) :D

[Cardinal]

Chapter 59 - Camping

Lana was true to her word. During the school day on Monday, Clark would have to have been blind to not see her as he went from class to class. She never said a word, instead she just smiled warmly at him, making sure to look him straight in the eyes.

Clark was used to Lana’s daytime stalking by now, and was even ready for her to appear after practice in the afternoon. What he was not ready for was Lana’s late-evening appearance in front of the townhouse. At first, he had no idea she was there, but when Pete came in from a visit to Veronica, he asked, “What is Lana doing out on the front walk?”

Clark stood up from the kitchen table, took a break from his homework and hustled upstairs. Alone in his room, Clark kept the lights off and used his x-ray vision to see through the wall of the townhouse. There, right where Pete said she would be, was Lana. The nights were already cool, and occasionally Pete said they were out-and-out cold. Lana was ready for the weather though. She was dressed warmly and was sitting in a lawn chair. She had a book in her hand with a battery-powered book light clipped onto the front cover. On the ground next to her chair, was a rolled up sleeping bag and a tall thermos, presumably filled with something hot.

Clark was dumbfounded. This went way beyond anything he had imagined.

From then on, Clark made periodic checks on Lana to make sure she was all right. She appeared to be comfortable and was taking no note of the townhouse unless the light went on in Clark’s bedroom. Then, she would hold her book to one side and patiently watch his window until the light went out again.

By 10 p.m., Clark could see that Lana’s thermos was empty. Not believing what he was about to do, he got up and went out to where Lana was waiting. Lana perked up when Clark came outside, only to be surprised when Clark quietly asked her for her thermos. She obliged him and he twisted off the lid to smell what she had been drinking. Coffee or tea, Clark figured, but he was surprised to discover she had been having tomato soup.

“I can’t…I don’t have any soup inside,” Clark said, “but could I get you some hot tea or coffee?”

Lana replied that either would be fine, but if both were available, she would prefer coffee. When Clark returned minutes later with her thermos, it was full, but not just with plain old Folgers, he had made some of the special coffee she had brought over for him one day: Blue Mountain Coffee from Jamaica. Lana thanked Clark and opened the thermos. One whiff of the aroma was enough to tell her what he had done. She smiled at him as if that small gesture was all that mattered to her right then and Clark found himself smiling back at her before going back inside.

A couple of hours later, Clark saw that, despite the coffee, Lana had dozed off in her chair. Not sure what to do, but absolutely positive that she would not be safe if left outside all night, Clark made sure Pete was asleep in his room and then went to work. First, he super-sped through a complete change of the bedding in his room. Then, he gently picked Lana out of her chair and carried her all the way up to his bedroom. Clark was especially careful to use his legs as shock absorbers to keep from waking her.

His next challenge was to get her tucked into bed. He pulled back the covers, unzipped her coat and then carefully laid her face-down on the bed. After that, he slid the coat off of her arms and then pulled off her shoes and socks. The rest of her clothes he left strictly alone. To finish, he carefully turned her over on her back and pulled the sheet and blankets up to her neck. Before he went back outside to retrieve her belongings, he stopped at the bedroom door, went back to the bedside, and placed a light kiss on her forehead.

Tuesday morning, Lana awoke in a strange bed, completely confused about where she was and how she got there. The bedside alarm clock said 6:30 a.m. but when she saw a picture sitting next to the clock, she realized where she was and nearly cried. The shot was of her folding her laundry downstairs and it was the only picture of her that Clark had. She remembered how Clark had popped into the laundry room and snapped the picture just as she looked up. She had chased him around the apartment in a vain attempt at retrieving a shot where she did not look her best but Clark had not relented. He had said he needed a shot of her and since she had refused his request to pose, this one would have to do.

The picture was a Polaroid and thus was not sharply focused and the square shape of the print did not fit come close to fitting the frame, but he had it on display anyway. The picture had irked her at the time, but now she thought it was the dearest thing. Looking around Clark’s bedroom, she had to resist the strong temptation to rummage through his drawers and closet, figuring that getting caught by Clark would not help her in the trust department.

Lana stood up, yawned, stretched, and headed for the bathroom. Minutes later, she had put on her coat, shoes, and socks and stumbled downstairs to find Clark asleep on his couch. His six foot-three inch height kept him from fitting properly on the couch, so one leg dangled off the couch with its foot resting on the floor and the other leg was propped up by the armrest which was right beneath his ankle. He looks so angelic when he’s asleep, she thought. No arguing, no pain, no rancor. Lana wished she had a camera right then, but quickly decided against trying to find Clark’s.

Not wanting to press her luck today, Lana found her belongings neatly stacked inside the front door. She quickly and quietly gathered everything and loaded it into the SUV and headed home to get ready for school.

The next couple of days were much the same. Lana showed up in Clark’s path whenever she could during the day, went home to do her homework and then sat quietly out in front of Clark’s townhouse. Invariably, she would fall asleep sometime during the night and Clark would make sure she was safe and warm for the evening at the expense of his own comfort.

He never talked to her beyond the bounds of common courtesy as he was refilling her thermos, but the look in his eyes when he came out was all the encouragement she needed. Wednesday night, Lana woke briefly after being put to bed, and saw Clark sitting there in the bedroom on his desk chair, looking at her with tears running down his face.

When she was not busy with Clark or with school, Lana was busy raising money for the Alpha Kappa Psi auction. She had been seeing flyers all over campus all week and Clark’s name was prominently listed. A little research into past auctions gave her an idea just how much the auctionees tended to go for, and if that held true this year, even the least expensive guy there was going to cost far more than she could come up with on her own.

So, she borrowed what she could from whomever she could. Surprisingly, her largest chuck of change came from Dean. Lana had known better than to ask Nell for any money, but Dean had always been a soft touch ever since he married Nell. It was the size of the donation that surprised her, a full one-hundred dollars. Martha made sure Jonathan was not around and donated fifty dollars and when he was asked, Jonathan made sure Martha was busy elsewhere and added fifty of his own when he found out Dean had donated one-hundred. Chloe chipped in with forty bucks, Pete snuck Lana a twenty when Clark was not around, and Kathy raided her pink piggy bank for the grand sum of $12.37. Everyone but Clark knew what was going on.

By the time Thursday rolled around, she felt a little bit better about her chances, having put together roughly $400 dollars. It was not enough to match the highest bids in recent history, but it was a higher total than most of the guys had gone for. Her hope was that those high-dollar guys had involved some kind of personal rivalry and that that was what had made them so expensive.

Thursday night was the same as the first three nights of the week, but this time, motivated by Clark’s weeping vigil the night before, Lana decided to fake sleeping to see what he would do. Lana napped after class instead of studying so she would be able to stay awake longer and she slipped a pack of No-Doz into her pocket just in case.

Midnight approached and Lana pretended to drift off to sleep. She was soon rewarded with the sound of Clark coming out to check on her. Limp as a noodle, Lana thought. I must be as limp as a noodle. Once again, Clark gently cradled her in his arms and took her to his bedroom where he got her ready for bed. She almost blew her cover when one of Clark’s fingers accidentally grazed the sole of her bare foot.

Once she was snug under the covers and Clark went downstairs to bring her things inside, Lana hurriedly slipped a No-Doz into her mouth and found out just how foul those things taste with out any water to help her swallow. She was sure the bitter taste alone would keep her awake for hours.

Coming back into his bedroom, Clark picked up his desk chair and moved it to the best vantage point in the room for watching Lana. He contented himself with watching the slow rise and fall of the blanket with each breath she took. Finally, he reached up and slid some hair back off of her face and said, “You’re so like an angel, Lana.” She had to struggle to keep from smiling when she heard him echo her thoughts from Tuesday morning, but what he went on to say shook her to her core.

“I know I told you that this was all about me not forgiving you, and then I told you it was about trust and how I didn’t know if I could trust you any more, but that’s neither one is exactly true. In the very depths of me, the real reason I can’t get back together with you is fear.

“When you dumped me, I learned that, for the first time in my life, my happiness no longer depended on me, it depended on you. That scares me. To know how desperately I need you scares me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet.” Clark took a deep breath and continued, “When I said on Sunday that you were just as special to me as Lori was, well, that was true, as far as it went. I knew her for about a year, and even though I haven’t known you for quite two months yet, I already love you more than I ever did her."

Clark threw his hands in the air and said, “Maybe she left me because she knew I didn’t love her enough, I don’t know and now it’s too late to ask. But never doubt that I love you. I may not have loved you as well as I should have, but there I plead ignorance and inexperience. After I left you on Sunday, I came home and looked up your ‘love list’ on the internet and committed it to memory. My love has failed you in so many ways. I have not been patient when you needed it most, I have not been kind to you since our breakup, and I definitely suffer from my share of pride. Lastly, my love failed in its duty to protect you and your heart.”

Clark finished by saying, “I guess this has been something of a rambling confession, Lana, but it’s the truth. I love you so much it scares me, and I do such a poor job of loving you, that you deserve someone better. I’m so sorry and I wish I had the nerve to say this to you while you are awake.”

Once again, Clark was sitting in his chair, with tears running down his face. He stood up, kissed her on the forehead, and went downstairs to sleep.

It took all of Lana’s considerable willpower to stay in bed and not jump Clark on the couch and smother him with kisses until he surrendered. Nope, she wanted to earn his trust and winning the date with him at the auction was her next step in making him come around to her way of thinking.

[SVsleuth]

:)
Love is patient:
"...she would hold her book to one side and patiently watch his window until the light went out again."

Love is kind:
"I don’t have any soup inside,” Clark said, “but could I get you some hot tea or coffee?”

Love is not self seeking:
"Invariably, she would fall asleep sometime during the night and Clark would make sure she was safe and warm for the evening at the expense of his own comfort."

Love always perseveres:
"The next couple of days were much the same. Lana showed up in Clark’s path whenever she could during the day, went home to do her homework and then sat quietly out in front of Clark’s townhouse."

Love always hopes
"She smiled at him as if that small gesture was all that mattered to her right then..."

Looks to me like Clark & Lana are well on there way to expressing true love.

*****

Tuesday morning, Lana awoke in a strange bed, completely confused about where she was and how she got there. The bedside alarm clock said 6:30 a.m. but when she saw a picture sitting next to the clock, she realized where she was and nearly cried.
As I read this scene, I nearly cried. How sweet for her to realize how kind and protective Clark has been!
*****
Ok, now, on to the auction....

[akuma]

2!

Wowzers, Lana is a VERY determined young lady!! I hope the 400 is enough to win her the date, ill cry if it isnt;) Thanks for the 2 very close together updates Card and cant wait for more:D:D PPMS!!!

[Nemu]

Well that was a good chapter... both have their fault... both knows it now and once the auction is over I guess they will be able to work on it...

PPMS :D

[happycamper]

:) :) :) :)

You know, Card. I was all prepared to go off on your previous post about how it was Lana who should be reconsidering the relationship. Given the circumstances and the short length of their relationship, there was nothing odd or unreasonable about how Lana had acted, and she had not been the one pushing for all his secrets.

My impression was that this Clark was essentially selfish and self-centered - despite the outward show of humility and politeness - and needed to grow up before he would be ready for a real relationship. The Golden Arm had everything go his way, and couldn't deal with any situation that did not go exactly the way he wanted or envisioned it.

While I think Clark still needs to consider growing up, he seems to at least realize most of his own faults, and his worse qualities may no longer be so bad as to be unforgivable.

Clark is lucky he isn't in a fic by me, because he would have really regretted his actions by now (and I am beginning to worry about myself and a real psychological problem in the inability to differentiate versions of fictional characters from reality, extending to threatening those characters :( ).

Otherwise, very nice. I love the way Lana is messing with his head and heart.

:) :)


BTW, congratulations on the new addition to the extended family. She's lovely! I trust (and hope) that she doesn't favor you in looks... ;)

:D :D

[Cardinal]

This is funny.

I now have a guy defending Lana and saying there was nothing especially wrong with what she did, and one of my female readers pointed out to me that she thought it natural for Clark to want some time away from Lana before taking her back to get over the tremendous hurt he had suffered.

This is just great! :p

[deanyouk]

Wow Cardinal, two updates in such a short period, ur on a roll!

and two fantastic ones at that!

[superman_lives_on]

That confession by Clark really struck a chord in my heart! And I'm certain Lana felt it even more strongly.

I'd say she's extremely close to finally breaking his barriers once and for all. I hope she can win him at the auction--and that Chloe, Elaine, and Lex can solve the secrets of The Tape by then.

PPMS! :D

[SpeedyKate91]

Awsome Updates!!! PPMS!!!!!

[ClanaLover]

9! I thought I only missed one update! I missed 2! Ugh. Well, I caught up! Awesome updates Card!

PPMASAP!!!

[annaliese]

please post more!!!!!!!

[MOOman0618]

Man...super updates!! THEY ARE SOOOO CLOSE!!! Lana is really dedicated...holy crap! And Clark can't escape her.

I hope the auction goes well and Lana can win back at least one date to try to fix things.

...if not I am sure the nightly ritual they have come into will wear him down.

POST MORE SOON! :)

[NYC300Z]

Lana better win that date! Looks like it will be a good chance for her! I hope she doesn't have any stiff competition at the auction! Maybe Elaine can get Lex to help Lana there!

PPMS!

[happycamper]

After completing some necessary personal business I'd been putting off to finish my own story (and because I'm lazy and always wait to the last minute for most things), instead of sleeping I very stupidly decided to look through the board and came across your last comment...

It is not that there was nothing especially wrong with what Lana did, it was that her reaction was understandable. She too had been opening up on a relatively short acquaintance to someone she thought could be "the one." Actually seeing the tape meant that she had been betrayed by someone who had been playing her, leading her one, etc. Why shouldn't she be devastated, and why should Clark's word overcome the evidence of her own eyes?

It was Clark that decided that Lana's reaction meant that the relationship was over forever, despite the willing testimony of the two other females that were closest and most trustworthy. He was unwilling to consider anything other than his own disappointment/outrage/feelings.

That is a sign of someone who is incorrigibly selfish. That is also someone a girl should definitely reject, notwithstanding how charming he might otherwise be, because such selfishness must underlie all aspects of an individual’s character. That Clark recognizes his own fault in the matter might indicate that he is still capable of reform, but someone who still is no longer the perfect catch.

I thought the statement Lana read to Clark was actually an indictment of Clark. That she refuses to do so reflects somewhat poorly on her own judgement.

See the trouble these characters make us endure? :rolleyes: ;)


As always, PPMS! :D

[SVsleuth]

I think you're being too harsh to Clark, hc. It was LANA who said this wasn't fixable, who barged in and didn't even ask Clark for his side of the story, accused him, and said it was not fixable. Try putting yourself in his place at that moment, taking into account his past history with Lori - it would feel to him like every time he has risked giving his heart to a woman, she squashes it. So I don't think it was unrealistic for it to take him some time, a week or two, to work through his fear of entrusting his heart ever again to any woman. Doing so will make him feel quite vulnerable - he needs time to work through that. And even though it feels to us like a loooong time has passed since the breakup, it is actually less than two weeks at this point.

Also, Lana understands better than you do that she has hurt Clark by failing to trust him, even though it is true she was mislead by a very convincing tape. She loves him & it pains her that she has caused him pain. She wants to heal it. His need to work through his pain & fears does not make him selfish. And, if Lana waits for a "perfect" man, she will wait forever. The most important part of a relationship is accepting the faults of the other person, amd loving them in spite of them, helping them to grow to improve their faults - as they do the same for you. That much I know from being happily married for 20 years.

So cut Clark a little slack, hc. He's not as bad as you think.

[tygershot]

2 updates! Wow! They were great! PPMS!

[clanas1ally]

That really was great. There are few writers that not only bring back the pure forms of these characters (Season 1-3) but also bring them to the higher platform of who we know they can be. You surpass not only the writing of the second half of season 5 (not to difficult in the eyes of all of clana's allies (us) )but i believe you surpass much if not all of the writing of the entire show. You are a titan of clana shipping fanfiction in my eyes :eek:

The reasons i view seasons 1-3 as being topps is for many reasons. The loss of pete is definately a weakness in my idea and the second clana session (Season 4) is another weakness, but the fact that jason existed and that Lana's bitterness in the beginning of season 4 is apparent serve me as a barrier to the end of good writing on the show :(

[maru11]

awesome updates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[maitriniazngurl]

Cardinal that was so GREAT!!
I cried during the moment when Clark pleaded to Lana about why he couldn't take her back. That was so emotinal.

Its awesome, very deep, and passionate. I love this story.

PPMS!!!

[C.A.chick]

OMG! Card! 2 updates?! WOW! I'm in awe! I LOVE the way you're going about dealing with Jor-El and Mara. And Mara's powers are awesome!
Aww, I love the way Lana is being so stubborn. And Clark, well he is just sooo weird. I mean I know its hard for him, but he loves her, why can't he just accept her?! ARG! *sigh* I hate angsty clana, but you write sooo well. PPMASAP.

P.S. my PM box is no longer full ;)

[maru11]

update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[maitriniazngurl]

Cardinal your writting is awesome!!
I just love it!!!

PPMS

[annaliese]

updates soon!!!!

[maitriniazngurl]

I saved my 100th post for my favorite fic !!

Card, please post more soon!!

I love this story!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :) :) :) :)

[Cardinal]

I'm honored. This is usually everyone's second or third favorite fic.

I am working on another chapter. This one is the auction chapter.

Hope you enjoy it! ;)

[Nemu]

yay the auction is coming!!!! cant wait!!!!

PPMS :D

[treker]

Originally posted by maitriniazngurl
I saved my 100th post for my favorite fic !!

Card, please post more soon!!

I love this story!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :) :) :) :)

that depends on how the updates go card....sometimes you're #1 and sometimes AJ is. :)


Originally posted by Cardinal
I'm honored. This is usually everyone's second or third favorite fic.

I am working on another chapter. This one is the auction chapter.

Hope you enjoy it! ;)

sorry...I quoted the wrong one.....sometimes your fic is #1 and sometimes AJ is..... :)

[MOOman0618]

How's the update coming Card?? Any ETA on it?

[Cardinal]

This is already nearly twice the length of a normal update.

I will be posting today sometime, when exactly, I don't know. :(

[superman_lives_on]

Originally posted by Cardinal
This is already nearly twice the length of a normal update.

I will be posting today sometime, when exactly, I don't know. :(

I hope you manage to post it soon. I'm looking forward to how the auction transpires.

Good luck! :D

[Cardinal]

Chapter 60 - Auction

Friday night came and Clark walked home from eating dinner in the cafeteria to find Lana’s lawn chair open but empty in front of his townhouse. A piece of paper was pinned to the chair’s interweaved straps. He unpinned the note and carelessly crumpled the pin between his finger and thumb so as not to leave it laying around where it might poke someone.

The paper was thick and had a light floral scent that Clark could not place. He unfolded the neatly creased paper and saw it was decorated with irises in one corner. He was sure it was just a coincidence, but that still made him think back to the party he and Pete had held and how he and Lana had danced to “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls. The smile generated by that memory was as predictable as day following night, and Clark moved on to read the text of the elegantly handwritten note.


Dearest Clark,

I love you.

That I won’t be here to keep you company this evening is in no way meant to diminish that fact. I’m taking some time off to give you a chance to sleep in your own bed tonight and get a good night’s rest. I know you have an important social obligation tomorrow night and you will need to be at your best. After all, what girl would want to buy a guy who was asleep on his feet? I hope you bring the highest price and that you don’t get stuck with someone unpleasant.

The fact that you have taken the time to care for me these past four evenings has meant more to me than you can possibly know. The sight of my picture on your bedside table when I woke up Tuesday morning is one of the sweetest memories I possess and will no doubt remain so for many years. The picture itself is nice, but seeing it meant I was in your room and that you still cared for me, somewhere deep inside. I began to look forward to falling asleep each night, secure in the knowledge that I would awaken the next morning - safe and warm in your bed.

As far as the auction goes, be certain that I hold no enmity toward you for choosing to help out this charitable event. Treat the winning bidder as well as she deserves and rest assured that as soon as the auction and the date that follows are over, I will return to resume my pursuit of the only man I have ever loved…you.

Love,
Lana


Amazed at her patience and the way she took his participation in the upcoming auction in stride, Clark trotted up the stairs with the now-folded lawn chair under one arm. Pete was already gone, having said last night that he was going home to Smallville to visit his folks for the first time this semester.

Clark had the whole place to himself for the entire weekend. This would have been the time for some tongue-wrestling on the couch with Lana, Clark groused to himself. With ‘Fire Marshal Pete’ out of the way, there’s no telling what might have happened.

The next day, Clark lazed around in bed, luxuriating in his first Saturday off in some time. While still being in bed when the clock reached 10 a.m. was enjoyable, he could not help but reflect that he missed the unsettling company of Lana Lang’s sleeping form even more.

He did not actually leave his bed until hunger made him realize he had missed breakfast at the cafeteria and that, if he did not get moving soon, he might miss lunch as well. Shortly after noon, Clark was walking back across campus after a filling lunch of enchiladas on Mexican day, when Chloe called him on his cell phone.

“Hey, Chloe. What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Chloe replied. “I was just calling to see if Metropolis University’s most eligible bachelor needed any help choosing an outfit for tonight’s big event.”

“Ooooh! Fashion tips from Chloe Sullivan,” Clark said. “Kind of like the blind leading the blind, don’t you think?”

Clark could almost feel Chloe’s playful swat on his shoulder as she said, “Very funny! Do you want my help or not?”

Clark thought for a second and then said, “Yeah, sure. Come on over. I can always use some moral support on a day like this.”

Clark thought he already knew what he wanted to wear, but Chloe made him model a seemingly endless array of wardrobe options…which was pretty amazing considering how little Clark owned in the way of suits and sport coats. The one thing accomplished by Chloe’s insistence on a fashion show was that it took up a lot of time, time that Clark no longer had to spend sitting around the apartment working himself into a tizzy over what he was about to do. When he realized what Chloe had done for him, Clark thanked her.

“No problem,” Chloe said as she made her way out the door. “Now just don’t fall down while you are on the stage tonight. I’ll be there watching, but I won’t be able to help you.”

Clark swallowed hard and asked, “You’re going to be there?”

On the verge of shutting the door, Chloe stopped and said, “You didn’t actually think I was going to miss this, did you? Clark Kent selling himself for charity, what a concept!”

Cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting after Chloe’s quickly retreating body, Clark said, “It’s just a date! It’s not like I’m going to be a slave or anything!”

Chloe rushed over to Lana’s, where she had stashed her clothes before helping Clark pass the day. “I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it,” Lana said as she let Chloe in the front door.

“No worries there,” Chloe said as she hurried toward Lana’s bedroom, where her garment bag and makeup case waited. “I wouldn’t miss this night for anything short of a front-page exclusive, and when I say ‘front page,’ I’m talking about The Daily Planet.”

Lana was already dressed and ready to go and, 45 minutes later, so was Chloe. The girls intended to be a good hour early so as to nab good seats. Being rather nervous herself, Lana decided that Chloe should drive and so they headed for Lot 24A, which was just northeast of the Student Union, in Chloe‘s red VW Beetle. The auction was being held in the second-floor ballroom. A wide staircase led from the wide-open foyer of the Student Union up to the ballroom proper. At the foot of the stairs, sat a table where two members of the Alpha Kappa Psi service fraternity were selling tickets.

The people working at the table were guys, since the service fraternity was mixed and no men were allowed in the ballroom itself for tonight’s event. Admission, even if you did not plan on bidding, was ten bucks per person. If you wanted to bid, you had to pay an additional ten bucks for a numbered wooden paddle which would be held aloft to signify a bid. Lana begrudged the twenty bucks she had to spend only because that was twenty fewer dollars she would have to buy Clark. Three-hundred and eighty dollars, Lana thought. I hope it will be enough.

She and Chloe took their tickets, their programs, and Lana’s paddle and headed up the staircase. At the top of the stairs stood a pair of professionally dressed young women who were obviously the ticket takers. Lana and Chloe handed over their tickets and looked for a table with a nice view that was not too close.

They quickly noticed that the university had brought out and installed a rarely used runway that went from the stage straight out into the audience. After some debate, the girls sat at a table far enough back from the stage and runway so that none of the men up for sale would be able to see them due to the bright lights that would be shining on the stage and the runway. Lana was worried about holding a seat for Elaine, who had promised to meet them at the auction.

“Don’t bother,” Chloe said. “Elaine wants to make a very public statement to her sorority sisters right off the bat. Once she gets that out of the way, she may be able to come over and join us.”

Perplexed, Lana asked, “What does Elaine want to say?”

“Weeeelllll, it’s not so much what she wants to say as what she wants to do.” Chloe got an evil grin on her face, leaned close to Lana and said, “She wants to make it perfectly clear that she has no interest in Clark at all. I think she plans to overbid on the first guy that comes down the runway tonight. That should make everyone in the sorority wonder about what they heard Candy bragging about.”

Lana leaned in and said in a voice scarcely louder than a whisper, “What about the investigation?”

“It took a while,” Chloe said, “but we’ve got all the evidence we should need to bury Candy alive. Elaine’s already called a special meeting of the entire sorority for tomorrow night. We spent all of last night going over how to present the information.”

Lana clapped her hands for joy. Because she had been focusing on Clark, the other two girls had taken charge of the investigation. Apparently, they had no need of her after all.

“I’ll let you know exactly what we have learned later,” Chloe said as she held up a program. “Right now, we need to read these and familiarize ourselves with the rules.”

Lana saw that Chloe’s program was already opened to the biographical profiles of the men up for bid. Included were full-color pictures of each man. “And the fact that ten of Met U’s finest men are pictured in there has nothing to do with your eagerness to read, does it?” Lana smiled and said, “I’m surprised at you Chloe. I thought you and Jonesy were getting pretty close.”

Chloe flashed Lana a patented Sullivan grin and said, “We are…but I’m not dead. I can enjoy myself and fill my eyes to overflowing with beefcake, I just can’t touch.”

While Chloe was checking out Met U’s finest, Lana settled in to study the auction rules. First, she noted that the auction would be silent, with the bids being displayed on televisions that would not be visible from stage. The bidding process would start at $100. To start, all interested bidders would put their paddles in the air. The amounts would then increase in twenty dollar increments. As the dollar amount on the televisions increased, bidders would begin to drop out. Once the number of airborne paddles was reduced to a manageable number, the real bidding would begin. Then, a bid could be increased by more than twenty dollars, but that was still the minimum bid increase. That explains the paddles, Lana thought, and I bet the silence is to protect the fragile male egos of the men being auctioned. Someone might be humiliated to know he had been sold for less than someone else.

Then it occurred to Lana that because of the silent bidding process and the fact that the guys would be unable to see the women doing the bidding, they would have no idea who had bought them until the date was underway. If this works, Clark will be going on a blind date with me, Lana thought as she chortled to herself. Chloe looked up briefly from her ‘reading’ to see what had made Lana so happy, but returned to perusing the program when Lana waved her off.

Then, Lana read, the remaining bidders would relay bids to nearby workers who would punch the bid and their bidder’s number into a Blackberry. The new high bid and the bidder’s number would then be posted on the screen. Lana checked her paddle and saw that it was number seven. Maybe this will be lucky number seven for me, she thought.

Next, Lana read that, once the auction was done, the winners would get a chance to up their bids to improve their standing when it came time to select the dates. Definitely looking for more cash, Lana thought wryly. Oh well, it is a charity event. She wondered what exactly was meant by choosing the dates until she read the next section of the rules.

There, Lana saw they had an unusual way of choosing the dates. The guys did not plan them, instead, ten different dates were listed in the program. The dates were only described in the loosest of terms, such as Romantic Date, Artistic Date, Adventurous Date, and so on. The dates had been put together with the help of some business sponsors that were looking for tax write-offs. The girl who bid the highest would get first choice on which date she went on with her chosen man. I suppose that’s another clever way to try and get the bids to be higher than they would be otherwise, Lana thought.

After the winning bidders made their choices, the guys would be given an envelope with the details of the date they were going on and the girls would receive a voucher to use to identify themselves to the man they had purchased when it came time for the date. The arrangements as to where and when the couples would meet would be written on the girl’s voucher by the man she had purchased.

When Lana finally looked up from her program, the room was filling nicely. She wanted to bet Chloe that this year’s auction would set a record for money received, but Chloe happened to agree and would not take the bet.

Chloe was the one that first saw Elaine and the seven other girls that came up the stairs with her, including Candy. They were a large enough group to take up a table all by themselves, and, thankfully, they sat on the other side of the runway. To make sure Elaine knew where they were sitting, Chloe got up with the pretense of using the restroom. On her way back, she made her way past the tri-Alpha table and lightly brushed Elaine’s shoulder. Elaine looked up and eyeballed Chloe all the way to her seat.

It was not too much longer until the festivities got under way. The room lights were still on full strength and the footlights on the stage and runway were still off when a young woman who introduced herself as Mary Thomas stepped onto the stage to thank everyone for coming. She signaled the girls at the stairs and they called down to the guys below to bar anyone else from coming up.

Once that was done, Mary said, “I give you the men of the 2007 Alpha Kappa Psi Charity Bachelor Auction.” When she exited stage right, the house lights lowered, the footlights came on full blast, and the loudspeakers came alive with music. The first words of the song were spoken, but soon, the spoken words gave way to words that were sung, and almost everyone recognized the song as they stood, cheered, whistled, and clapped along with the beat.


“It’s Raining Men” - The Weather Girls

Hi - Hi! We're your Weather Girls - Ah-huh -
And have we got news for you - You better listen!
Get ready, all you lonely girls
and leave those umbrellas at home. - All right! -

Humidity is rising - Barometer's getting low
According to all sources, the street's the place to go
Cause tonight for the first time
Just about half-past ten
For the first time in history
It's gonna start raining men.

The guys did not start coming onto the stage until now, when the singing started, and one by one, the paraded across the stage and down the runway. The guys were smiling, but they could not see anyone not on stage due to the lighting.

It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! - It's Raining Men! Amen!
I'm gonna go out to run and let myself get
Absolutely soaking wet!
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah!
It's Raining Men! Every Specimen!
Tall, blonde, dark and lean
Rough and tough and strong and mean

God bless Mother Nature, she's a single woman too
She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do
She taught every angel to rearrange the sky
So that each and every woman could find her perfect guy
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! - It's Raining Men! Amen!
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah!
It's Raining Men! Ame---------nnnn!

Chloe thought each man was certifiably gorgeous, but Lana had eyes for only one man and he was the last one on stage. Lana watched him carefully and saw small signs that he was uncomfortable, but he appeared to be dealing with it fairly well.

I feel stormy weather / Moving in about to begin
Hear the thunder / Don't you lose your head
Rip off the roof and stay in bed

God bless Mother Nature, she's a single woman too
She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do
She taught every angel to rearrange the sky
So that each and every woman could find her perfect guy
It's Raining Men! Yeah!

Each guy had drawn his share of whistles and shouts of excitement from the audience, but Lana thought that Clark had topped them all. Of course, she was just a little bit biased. He had been listed last in the program and with him coming out on stage last, she hoped that meant he would be auctioned last. That way, Elaine would have a chance to ‘make her statement’ to the tri-Alphas.

Humidity is rising - Barometer's getting low
According to all sources, the street's the place to go
Cause tonight for the first time
Just about half-past ten
For the first time in history
It's gonna start raining men.

It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! - It's Raining Men! Amen!
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! - It's Raining Men! Amen!
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! . . .

Having gotten the evening off to a rousing start, Mary came back on stage just after Clark stepped off stage. Responding to the general excitement in the audience, Mary said, “Thank you, thank you. I think you will all agree with me when I say that this year’s crop of bachelors is the best I’ve seen in my time here at Met U.”

That statement drew an enthusiastic round of applause, and then Mary introduced the first bachelor, Justin Scott. She read off the information from the program which stated that he was a Phi Beta Kappa majoring in Economics and a member of the Met U crew team. When he came out on stage, Lana saw that he was a tall, broad-shouldered, crew-cut blonde. She had to admit that this guy appeared to be a catch.

The video screens came to life with $100 dollars on the screen. Mary said, “Okay, Ladies, paddles in the air if you want to bid on Mr. Justin Scott.” Lana craned her neck around and saw a large number of paddles shoot into the air, but the one she was looking for was Elaine’s. Just as promised, Elaine’s paddle was up and that seemed to be creating a small amount of consternation among her sorority sisters.

The bidding reached $240 before the number of bidders had been reduced enough to proceed with the second phase of the auction. Elaine’s paddle had stayed up the whole time, and as soon as a Alpha Kappa Psi worker came over to her, she put in a pre-emptive bid of $500 dollars. That ended the bidding right there as no one else was willing to top her bid.

Her sorority sisters were stunned and began looking at each other and at Candy as if not sure what was going on. Elaine shrugged off all attempts at conversation, saying only that she had done what she had come here to do. Veronica was here also, and was trying to control a smile. Being one of Elaine’s closest friends, she had been told what was going on this evening and was here to support Elaine, should she need it.

Chloe was enjoying herself, as she watched the cream of Met U’s male half walk by on the runway. The night seemed to race by for her, but for Lana, who was impatiently waiting for the last man, time was crawling.

Once the bidding for the next-to-last man was over, Elaine and Veronica slipped away from their table and made their way over to Lana and Chloe. When they got there, Elaine asked Lana point-blank how much money she had for the auction. When Lana replied $380 dollars and began to express her doubts about winning due to the size of the winning bids so far, Elaine just smiled and said, “Keep that paddle in the air until your arm falls off. I guarantee you’re not going home without winning that date.”

Finally, it was time. Mary stood at the corner of the stage and announced, “Up next is our last bachelor of the evening, Clark Kent. This is the last chance for you ladies out there to buy a dream date…and what a dream he is. Clark is in his third year at Met U, is majoring in Journalism with a 4.0 GPA, and is scheduled to graduate in the spring. He was Met U’s Homecoming King just weeks ago and is also the All-American quarterback for Met U’s number-one ranked football team.” Taking a deep breath, Mary finished by saying, “Ladies, paddles in the air if you intend to bid on Mr. Clark Kent.”

The whole time the auction had been going on, Clark had been fighting a case of nerves, but when it became his time to strut his stuff on stage, the butterflies went away, just like at a football game. Clark was wearing a blue blazer, light-blue oxford shirt, and khaki slacks along with his one good pair of black dress shoes from Ferragamo.

Clark made full use of what Chloe referred to as ‘the Kent charm’ as he smiled into an audience he could not see. When he reached the end of the runway, he took off his blazer and turned slowly so the girls could get a good look. At that point, Lana was unable to restrain herself, and she let loose with an ear-piercing wolf whistle. That drew attention from all over, including from Candy who was incensed to see Lana at the auction, apparently completely over her anger at Clark. That was nothing next to the betrayal Candy felt when she realized Elaine was sitting next to Lana. She now knew that she would not be buying Clark for Elaine, but she would be damned if she was going to allow Lana to buy him.

Not realizing what was going on in the audience, Clark then slung his blazer over his shoulder and walked back down the runway to the stage. By the time he reached the stage, the total on the monitor had reached $300 and the second stage of the auction kicked in.

Chloe noted that one of the remaining bidders was Candy, who kept shooting furious looks at their table. Elaine had grabbed an empty chair from another table and pulled it up to sit between Chloe and Lana, so all Chloe had to do was tap Elaine on the shoulder and point at Candy to let Elaine know that Candy had seen her. Elaine just caught Candy’s eye and waved at her with the biggest smile on her face. Veronica had gone unnoticed as she was sitting on Chloe’s other side, facing away from Candy.

A worker from Alpha Kappa Psi made her way over to Lana, and she quickly put in the first bid of $320. It immediately flashed on the screen as #7 - $320, before being replaced by #53 - $340. When the bidding reached $380, Lana felt like she was stepping off of a cliff and she apprehensively looked over at Elaine.

All Elaine said was, “Has you arm fallen off yet?”

“Well, no,” Lana replied, “but the paddles are down now that the first part is done.”

Elaine waved her concern away, and said, “Just keep on bidding, I’ve got you covered.”

Grateful beyond words, Lana smiled at Elaine in a way that managed to convey just what she felt, and then turned back to the auction. The bidding had advanced to $420 by then and Lana put in a bid for $440. When the bidding hit $500, it was down to just Lana and Candy. The bidding did not slow until the monitors read #7 - $600. At that point, Candy desperately tried to borrow money from her sorority sisters.

Since Elaine had bought another guy earlier and since she was now sitting with the girl bidding against Candy, they were all wondering about Candy’s professed motivation of ‘buying Clark for Elaine.’ Therefore, all of the other tri-Alphas rejected her plea and Candy had to give up. She stormed out of the ballroom, unwilling to watch as Lana turned to Elaine and gave her the biggest hug she could manage.

Once Lana paid her $380 and Elaine paid the rest of the $600, the ten winners were allowed the opportunity to up their bids to improve their chances of getting to choose the date they wanted. No one took that chance, and as Lana was the high bidder for the day, she got to choose her date first.

She looked over her choices and quickly decided on the Romantic Date. Elaine followed and surprised everyone who knew her by choosing the Adventurous Date. Once the dates had been chosen, the corresponding envelopes were taken backstage and given to the correct man.

Clark was waiting with the other guys in the relatively small green room backstage. They were all waiting for the notification of which date they would be going on. When Clark was handed his envelope, he read Romantic Date on the front and groaned as he tore open one end to see what was inside.

The paper inside told him that he was going to take his girl to Garza’s, which was the most exclusive restaurant in town, for a dinner for two, all expenses paid. After that, any additional embellishments he wanted to add to the date were up to him. The limousine that came with this date was to be at his disposal until the end of the date or 6 a.m., whichever came first.

All that remained was for Clark to sign his name to the voucher that was in the envelope and write down a date and time on it. After that information was duly recorded, the voucher was taken back to the ballroom and given to Lana.

She read it quickly with Chloe, Elaine and Veronica looking over her shoulders and saw that the date was set for Wednesday evening, and that he would meet her on the front steps of the administration building at 7 p.m.

Four more days, she thought, four more days until he’s mine again.

When Elaine’s voucher came to her, it set their date for next Saturday night. “I wonder what kind of adventure I’m going on,” Elaine said. “I hope it’s something good. That Justin is awfully cute, and I want to enjoy myself.”

Once Elaine had read her voucher, she saw that Lana was waiting for her. Most of the other women had already left once the date selection was over, so the room was nearly vacant. With Chloe and Veronica following behind and chatting lightly about Pete, Elaine and Lana headed for the stairs side by side. Lana finally worked up the nerve to say, “Thank you, Elaine. You can’t know how much this night means to me. I can’t believe you paid $220 just so I could go out with Clark.”

“It’s only money, Lana,” Elaine said. “Friends are much harder to come by for me.”

“Well then,” Lana said, “I guess it’s time for me to apologize to you. When we first met, I thought nothing but evil thoughts about you. Even when you apologized the day of homecoming, I was unsure of your motives…but now, I know your only fault was to be attracted to the same man as I was. Which, considering the man, is pretty understandable. I’m sorry for what I’ve thought of you.

“This is twice that you’ve shown yourself to be my friend, far beyond the scope of what I deserve.” As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Lana added, “I hope to be the kind of friend that you deserve, if you will have me.”

In response, Elaine wrapped an arm around Lana’s shoulders and said, “Lana, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

[SVsleuth]

1st!! Yay! Lana won the date with Clark - and she chose the Romantic date at that. Poor Clark - he must think he has to go on a Romantic date with some strange girl. He would have much rathered win the "Sports date" , and take a girl to a Sharks' game or something. A Romantic date, he'd have to admit to himself, he would ony want with Lana. So now he'll be all nervous for 4 days, until the day arrives for the date.

This is great, Card. I love that Candy lost to Lana with Elaine's help. And I love how Elaine & Lana will turn out to be close friends. Who of us would have guessed that at the beginning of the fic?

Oh, and that song about Raining Men - that was a scream! LOL

I could go on & on, but I'll stop, and just say THANK YOU for this amazing fic, & all the time & effort you put into it. Looking fwd to more soon. ;)

[MuchaLana]

2!! closest i've been

[superman_lives_on]

WOOT! Lana won the Romantic Date with Clark! Fantastic! :D Take that, Candy Morgan, you *****! :mad:

Looking forward to what happens next! Clark has NO idea what's in store for him four days from now. PPMS!

Oh yeah...nice Bogart reference at the end there, Card. :D

[annaliese]

yay!!!!! awesome update!!!!!! can't wait until the date!!!!!!!!!!!!

update again soon!!!! =)

[treker]

Finally....the clanna is being fixed. Thank you card. My faith in the universe is complete. I hope elaine makes candy suffer at the soriety meeting.

[Nemu]

lol so will Lana go back to her night watch between that night and the date? lol it will be funny...

I wonder how Clark will react when he sees Lana coming to him on Wednesday...

oh yeah and i cant wait for the moment when Chloe and Elaine expose Candy...

PPMS !!! :D

[Cardinal]

Originally posted by Nemu
lol so will Lana go back to her night watch between that night and the date? lol it will be funny...

Nope, she told him she wasn't coming back until after the date that went along with the auction. That was to try and throw him off the track as far as thinking about her being AT the auction.

[Nemu]

Originally posted by Cardinal
Nope, she told him she wasn't coming back until after the date that went along with the auction. That was to try and throw him off the track as far as thinking about her being AT the auction.

hmm.. then i must have missed that part... oh well... it would have been funny lol

PPMS :D

[SVsleuth]

Nemu, Lana said in her letter:

Treat the winning bidder as well as she deserves and rest assured that as soon as the auction and the date that follows are over, I will return to resume my pursuit of the only man I have ever loved…you.
So this would mean that if after the date & auction, Clark was still not hers again, Lana would then resume her vigil. But I think - I hope - she won't have to.

[Nemu]

Originally posted by SVsleuth
Nemu, Lana said in her letter:

So this would mean that if after the date & auction, clark was still not hers again, Lana would then resume her vigil. But I think - I hope - she won't have to.

Thanks for the pointer... and I agree with you...

k no more mindless talking ;) Sorry Card...

PPMS :D This is good!!!

[akuma]

Great update Card, thank goodness Lana won and not Candy, ugh. Cant wait for the date! PPMS

[LetMeGo]

Awesome update Card!! Thank goodness for Elaine! Can't wait for the romantic date! PPMS!!

[deanyouk]

Woah... that was brilliant!!! I cant wait for the date!

[maitriniazngurl]

Card, That was WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!! Lana winning the date, sleepinng outside Clark's house, the letter. I just love It!!

Please update soon!!!!!!!! I can't wait for the date.

[annaliese]

update soon!!!!

[Cardinal]

Chapter 61 - The King of Wishful Thinking

Wednesday night was here and Clark had spent the last four days wishing Lana was at his house night after night, and yet, he was glad she had not come by. That confusion had only been magnified by the fact that he was going out on a date, and a romantic one at that, with a girl he did not know. In his heart, he wanted Lana to be the girl he was taking out. In his mind, however, he was happy to be taking this first small step toward a new life without her.

As for the date itself, not only would he and his date be going to the fanciest restaurant in town, but Chloe had convinced him that the girl who had bought a date with him deserved something more than just dinner, no matter how nice the food was. So, he had done some searching and discovered that the movie “Dr. Zhivago” was playing in an art-house theater in the trendy Village Green district near downtown.

Since he did not know who he was going out with, he chose not to get flowers ahead of time just in case she was one of the rare women with flower allergies. Instead, he planned to stop at a florist shop on the way to dinner. That necessitated a search through the phonebook to find a florist near campus that was open until at least 8 p.m.

I sure am going to a lot of work for a date I’m not even supposed to be planning, Clark thought, as he looked into his closet. His black suit stared back at him, and Clark wondered when the last time was that he had worn his best suit this often. This makes twice in barely a month’s time, Clark thought. I’m a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. How did I end up playing dress-up so much?

He pulled the suit out of the closet and snagged a crisp white shirt and gleaming red silk tie to go with it. His Ferragamo shoes had already been buffed to a glossy shine, and he fished around in his dresser to find his fancy suspenders that buttoned on the inside of the suit pants. The clothes were carefully laid out and then Clark got to work. Wanting to be as fresh as possible for this date, his first since Lana broke up with him, Clark took a shower.

When he came back with his hair already dry, he pulled a fresh pair of boxers from his dresser and stepped into them. Then he pulled on a fresh white t-shirt, over which he pulled on his white dress shirt. Once that was buttoned he put on his slacks, socks and shoes. Standing back up, it was time for his suspenders and then the red silk tie which only took him two tries to get to the right length. After the tie, Clark strapped on his dress watch and last, as always, was his suit coat.

Looking at his final appearance in the bathroom mirror, Clark was satisfied and hoped that his date would be too. The limousine was scheduled to pick him up at 6:45, which was plenty early enough to get him to the administration building on time.

As he headed down the walk to the open door of the limo, he passed the spot that Lana had occupied for four nights and his thoughts once again turned to her.

It’s time for me to make a break from you, Lana, Clark thought. Loving you is too painful, but tonight, I’m starting over. At least, that’s what Clark kept telling himself.


“The King of Wishful Thinking” - Go West

I don't need to fall at your feet
Just 'cause you cut me to the bone
And I won't miss the way that you kiss me
We were never carved in stone
If I don't listen to the talk of the town
Then maybe I can fool myself...

I'll get over you... I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking
I am the king of wishful thinking

As he stepped into the spacious passenger compartment, Clark tried to picture the young woman he would be escorting tonight. Unfortunately for him, the image that formed in his mind was that of a petite brunette with hazel eyes.

I refuse to give in to my blues
That's not how it's going to be
And I deny the tears in my eyes
I don't want to let you see... no
That you have made a hole in my heart
And now I've got to fool myself...

I'll get over you... I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking...
I'll get over you... I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking

Clark tried to shake off the vision of Lana walking up to meet him tonight, and instead tried to focus his thoughts on the date. A couple of minutes later, and the limo was pulling up in the circle drive in front of the administration building. Clark stepped out, thanked the driver, and headed for the front steps to wait for his date. Nagging away in the back of his head was the unconscious thought that he was somehow being unfaithful to Lana. Hey, Clark’s conscious mind shouted back, she’s the one that broke up with me.

I will never, never shed a tear for you
I'll get over you

If I don't listen to the talk of the town
Then maybe I can fool myself...

I'll get over you... I know I will
I'll pretend my ship's not sinking
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking
I'm the king of wishful thinking
I'll get over you... I know I will
You made a hole in my heart
But I won't shed a tear for you
I'll be the king of wishful thinking

Most students still on campus at this time were either in night class or were working in a lab, but there were a few walking across campus and, standing on the front steps in his best suit, Clark got some curious looks from the few students that passed by. He kept gazing anxiously out toward the circle drive and the limo, figuring that his date would approach from that direction.

I'll get over you...
I'll pretend my heart's still beating
'Cause I've got no more tears for you
I'm the king of wishful thinking...

I'll get over you... I know I will
You made a hole in my heart
And I'll tell myself I'm over you
'Cause I'm the king of wishful thinking

Thus, Clark was totally unprepared when a door of the administration building opened behind him. Startled, he jumped a bit and automatically half-turned to see who was coming out. His head had already turned back toward the limo when his mind registered just exactly who had come through the door…Lana.

Clark’s mouth dropped open as his head did a double-take to make sure his imagination was not running wild. Nope, he thought, that’s definitely Lana…and oh my God, does she ever look good tonight. I wonder what she’s doing here?

Clark put a finger up to his neck in an attempt at loosening a suddenly tight shirt collar. “Umm…hi, Lana,” Clark said weakly.

Lana seemed to Clark to be happier right now than at any time since before the breakup. Since she had not been to his place in days, and in fact had quit popping up in front of him all over campus, he began to wonder if she had found someone else. An irrational jealousy took over his mind almost instantaneously. Having us each move on is what I want, isn't it? Clark wondered. If so, why am I so jealous that she is going out with someone else? The way she is dressed tonight, she is definitely going out with someone.

“Hi, Clark,” Lana replied, as she waved the fingers of her right hand at him. “What are you doing all dressed up tonight?”

“I’m, uh, I’m going on the date from the bachelor auction.” While keeping his eyes glued on Lana, he pointed vaguely in the direction of the circle drive. “See that limousine out there?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s waiting for me and my date.” Looking at his watch again, Clark groused, “You’d think that a woman who paid for a date with me would be on time and ready to go.” Clark turned to look once more for the girl who, according to his watch, should be here by now. Distracted, Clark asked, “What are you doing here tonight? It looks to me like I’m not the only one going out on a date.”

Lana nodded her head slightly, and said, “You guessed it. I’m here to wait for my date. I was told to meet him here at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.” Lana reached into her purse and pulled out her voucher. Handing it over to Clark, she said, “See?”

Clark took the golden piece of paper and looked at it. What he saw stopped his thoughts and nearly stopped his heart.

[SVsleuth]

1st :) I HOPE you plan to post again, Card - like TONIGHT! Gotta know Clark's reaction.

King of Wishful Thinking - Ha! He is SO not over her.... She owns his heart 4Ever! (and THAT's a looooooong time.)

Please post the rest of the date before we all have a heart attack with Clark! ;)

[basketballstar23]

1st!! what now playa's?!?!?! off to read...:lol:...dang....2nd...i can live with that....:rolleyes: :lol:

[superman_lives_on]

Indeed, he was the King of Wishful Thinking, his selfish mind holding his desperate heart in an iron grip--but the sight of that voucher will no doubt shatter that grip like a sledgehammer shattering Red Kryptonite. My heart nearly stopped along with Clark's.

Update again ASAP!!!

[deanyouk]

I can see this being the best date of their lifes.... All will be forgiven and forgotten.... and both will be happy again...

or am I totally wrong and one will die?

Either way Cardinal I look forward to your next update!

[Cardinal]

Nope. Mischa Barton is (was I should say) on the O.C.

[treker]

Originally posted by deanyouk
I can see this being the best date of their lifes.... All will be forgiven and forgotten.... and both will be happy again...

or am I totally wrong and one will die?

Either way Cardinal I look forward to your next update!

I hope so...but, Clark is being incredible stubborn in forgiving her. Hasn't she proven her loyalty enough? Any woman who would camp out in front of my lawn to get me to love her would not have to ask twice.

:)

[Nemu]

Well.. that was nice lol.. silly Clark... his mind was right on track imagining his date for the night...

and now... I guess he will have to realize that he isnt over Lana and that they do need to seriously talk... and yeah they need to move on... TOGETHER!!!! lol in a new relationship...

Great chapter... I hope you post the next part tonight... please...

PPMS :D

[treker]

Originally posted by Cardinal
Nope. Mischa Barton is (was I should say) on the O.C.


Huh? did I miss something?

[deanyouk]

Originally posted by Cardinal
Nope. Mischa Barton is (was I should say) on the O.C.

I know... such a silly way to kill her off I think.... If Ryan can come out alive... and hardly hurt, how can she die...

anyway... back to the topic of discussion... CLANA :D

[maru11]

awesome updates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MuchaLana]

Great update!...who is Micha Barton?? you lost me there

[Cardinal]

Chapter 62 - Garza’s

Clark looked at the voucher again like he could not believe what he was seeing. Blinking his eyes did not help and neither did trying to rub them.

When he looked up from the voucher, the helpless expression on his face made Lana want to laugh. His mouth just flapped soundlessly and the hand not holding the voucher just slowly pointed back and forth between her and the voucher.

Finally, Clark squeezed out the word, “How?”

“Simple,” Lana replied, “I outbid everyone else at the auction. Of course, if you don’t want me, you could always take out the girl that finished second in the bidding.”

Knowing for sure that this was a setup, Clark nevertheless asked, “Who was second?”

Lana slid her hand along a black wrought-iron handrail and said casually, “Oh. No one special. Just Candy Morgan.”

Clark’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head upon hearing that. At this point, he was filled with confusion. His heart was dancing at the prospect of going out with Lana, while his mind was distraught at the prospect of being drawn to Lana once again. Adding to the whirling maelstrom inside his skull, his conscience chose this moment to speak up and pointed out that, no matter what his feelings were on the subject at hand, he had an obligation to live up to.

Once he focused on the obligation to do his best to ensure Lana had a night to remember, everything was fine. Clark held out his arm for Lana and said, “In that case, Lana, not only did you win a date with me, but you did me a great favor for which I am thankful.”

Lana entwined her arm with his and they headed for the limousine. Her eyes never left Clark’s face as he led her to the open door. After he had helped her in, he slid in next to her on the quilted suede bench seat. When the chauffeur got the limousine moving, Clark used the intercom to tell the driver that they would be stopping at the first location on the list.

Sitting back in the comfy seat, Lana rubbed her hands on her thighs and asked, “So, Clark, what is the first stop on our itinerary?”

Clark smiled uncertainly at her and replied, “You’ll see. Just sit back and relax.”

For the first time since she popped out of the front door of the administration building, Clark had the time and the focus to notice more about Lana than the general fact that she was looking good.

He noted her black pumps, sheer stockings, and black cocktail dress. Wrapped around her shoulders to ward off what little chill there was on this unseasonably warm late October night was a thin black wool shawl. Her hair fell down over her shawl and around her shoulders in a curtain of loose chocolate curls. Finishing off her ensemble was a black clutch purse.

“You look wonderful tonight, Lana,” Clark said in an almost reverent tone of voice.

Lana smiled demurely and said, “Thanks, Clark, you’re looking pretty good yourself.”

As they made their way to the florist, an uncomfortable silence settled over the limousine. Finally, Clark asked, “Did anyone else I know buy a date at the auction?”

“Actually, yes.” Lana shifted slightly to face Clark and then said, “Elaine bought the first guy up for bid…you know, the guy from the rowing team.”

Clark smiled and said, “Justin, I remember him. He seemed like a nice guy. Do you remember what date Elaine picked?”

“Yeah. She was second to choose after me and she surprised everyone by selecting the Adventurous Date.”

“Elaine chose that? Had she suffered a bump on the head or something?”

Lana shook her head no and said, “She said her guy was cute and she hoped to have some fun.”

Clark considered this for a moment and said, “Well, at least she got what she wanted.”

They rode in silence for a few seconds more until something Lana said suddenly registered in Clark’s brain. “Wait a minute. If Elaine was second and you chose before her…oh, Lana! How much money did you spend on this date?”

Lana had hoped this topic would not come up. All she said in reply was, “Not a dollar more than I had to. I would give any amount to get you back, Clark.”

That statement caused Clark’s stomach to flutter, and he was saved from the necessity of replying by the chauffeur’s announcement that they had arrived. Clark said he would be right back and left Lana inside the limousine. She could see they were in front of a florist and wondered what kind of flowers Clark was getting. Red roses I bet, Lana thought. That’s what guys always get me when they’re trying to be romantic.”

Clark was back in ten minutes with a bouquet, just as Lana had thought. But when he stepped inside and handed her the tissue-wrapped flowers, she saw that Clark had done much better than roses, he had bought her a large bouquet of irises, her absolute favorite flowers in the world!

She could not help but squeal with delight as she buried her face in the bouquet and took a deep sniff. Cradling the bouquet with one arm, Lana snaked her other arm around Clark’s back to pull him in close for a hug. Clark could not help but enjoy the fact that Lana was thrilled with the flowers, and so, he hugged her back.

As the limousine headed toward their next stop, Lana asked, “How did you know to get irises? Did Chloe tell you?”

“No, Chloe didn’t tell me. You did.”

Surprised, Lana asked, “I did? When?”

“The day before the auction you left a note on your lawn chair. The stationery had a floral scent I wasn’t able to place, but the flowers in the corner of the paper were definitely irises.”

Lana took another sniff of the irises and said, “Well, that was very perceptive of you. Irises have been my favorite flowers for a long time. Thank you.”

Clark blushed slightly and said, “Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman.”

It was then Lana’s turn to blush and she responded by snuggling up next to Clark and they sat that way, side by side, each with an arm wrapped around the other, until they were almost to their next destination.

Curious about what was next, Lana finally looked up at Clark and asked, “Where are we going now, Clark?”

“I hope you’re hungry, because we are headed to dinner.”

“Where? The Forbidden City? That’s become our place to eat on our best dates.”

All Clark did was shake his head no and Lana said, “No? But where…?”

Clark cut her off and said, “If The Forbidden City is where you want to eat, I’m sure I can cancel our reservations at Garza’s.”

Lana just stared at Clark like he had grown a set of antlers. “Garza’s? As in, the most exclusive restaurant in town?” A glazed expression came over her face and she said quietly, “I think Garza’s will do just fine.”

When they reached the restaurant, Lana was handed out of the limousine by a waiting doorman who was dressed al in red and black livery. Clark followed her, and they walked arm-in-arm into the restaurant. Once inside, it was almost exactly time for their reservation. Clark decided to thank the driver later for timing the drive so exquisitely. Once he checked in with the maitre d’, the wait for their table was short, barely five minutes.

As they were being led across the dining room itself, Clark was self-consciously staring at the intricately brocaded carpet, while Lana was soaking in the exquisite look of the room.

What neither one of them noticed, was that they caused a small ripple among the assembled diners as they passed through the room. Lana, being in front, began to collect glances and outright stares from various men as the passed by. The women were more subtle and the looks they shot her were not ones of admiration. That all changed when they saw the Adonis following in her wake. The sight of Clark’s blue-green eyes and chiseled face made many a woman take a deep breath and wish she was younger. The men, of course, never noticed their women’s reaction to Clark, because they were still focused on Lana’s slender form.

The maitre d’ led Clark and Lana to a prime table in the middle of the room. Clark seated Lana and then tipped the maitre d’ before seating himself. The maitre d’ told Clark that everything had been taken care of, including gratuities, but Clark smiled when he realized the maitre d’ was in no hurry to return the tip.

When they sat down, Lana said, “So this is where the elite of Metropolis come to see and be seen.”

“Well,” Clark said, “one of the places anyway.” Clark looked across the table at Lana and asked, “Are you comfortable?”

She had kept the shawl on her shoulders which was all she needed and said, “Yes, thank you.”

When the time came to order, Lana ordered white wine and Clark, not yet twenty-one, ordered Darjeeling tea. When the soup course came Lana decided it was time to launch her campaign. She had Clark in a public setting where he could not make a scene and, due to the date they were on, he could not run from her. That left him with no choice but to discuss their relationship.

Lana waited for the waiter to leave and then she said, “Clark, we need to talk about our relationship.”

Clark looked up with a stricken expression on his face, swallowed hard, and said, “I don’t really think that’s a good idea, Lana. Could we do this some other time?”

"No, Clark, because there will never be a convenient time for you to talk about this. This is the one time I have your undivided attention, and I intend to make use of it.”

Seeing and hearing Lana’s steely determination and knowing he would get no rest until he agreed, Clark surrendered. “Okay, Lana, this is your idea, you start.”

[Nemu]

1st
where's the rest??? ;)

This is interesting... yep Lana will talk first and Clark cant do anything but sit there and listen for now...

I hope he will get in his head that Lana will never give up and that the situation is quite simple...

They are meant for each other...

PPMS :D

[superman_lives_on]

So it begins... Go to it, Lana, and good luck. Let's hope that Clark's heart can overcome his mind after all.

Update again soon!

[clanas1ally]

part of me gets especially giddy when i see two updates to read! then i realize that an update has been waiting for me so long that another has already been posted. I LOVE this story! Keep it up!

[deanyouk]

soon lana will have him eating out the palms of her hands lol

ppms

[akuma]

AHHH NEED MORE NOW!!!!! This should be a VERY interesting talk, PPMS

[superman_lives_on]

I hope we can see another one soon--tonight would be excellent. If not tonight, though, tomorrow would do nicely. Whenever you can, Card, go ahead and post. We'll be waiting. :)

[SVsleuth]

I'm finally back home, and read your update, Card. That's enough of those cliffies. You learned too well in the sweetsweetcandy school of cliffies. :p So please go back to those wonderfully long updates I've grown so accustomed to. I'll tolerate these cliffie updates only as long as you keep posting another one every day - or maybe even 2X a day. ;)


His heart was dancing at the prospect of going out with Lana, while his mind was distraught at the prospect of being drawn to Lana once again. Adding to the whirling maelstrom inside his skull, his conscience chose this moment to speak up and pointed out that, no matter what his feelings were on the subject at hand, he had an obligation to live up to.
I could really feel how conflicted clark feels here. I'm glad that obligation won out for the time being.

I loved how Clark knew Lana liked irises - he must have paid close attention to the note she sent him, & was very perceptive to figure out that irises just might be a favorite of hers - AND to remember that.

Can't wait to hear what Lana says to Clark & his reaction. She has his undivided attention now & he can't do anything about it.

PPMS!

[NYC300Z]

wow I missed a couple updates! they were so amazing! I hope thier talk goes well really well!;)

PPMS!

[ClanaLover]

Awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome awesome updates!!!!!! PPMASAP!!! :D

[superman's my hero]

Great updates!! Glad that Lana won Clark. Hopefully now Clark will take her back and we can have some happy Clana again. PPMS!!

[Cardinal]

Chapter 63 - Some Enchanted Evening

Soup forgotten, Lana reached across the small table and clasped Clark’s left hand with her right hand. She stared into his eyes until, assured she had his full attention, she went ahead and said, “I love you.” Her thumb lightly rubbed along the back of his fingers, tracing a line straight across his knuckles. “That’s what it all comes down to, Clark. I love you. You’re the first man I’ve ever loved, and I hope you’ll be the last.”

Lana took a deep breath, held it for a second, and then said, “What made me so mad the other day wasn’t the idea that you had had sex with someone else, though that was upsetting enough. What really made me mad was the idea that someone else had stolen your love out from under my nose. I thought I was losing you and so, I dumped you first. I’ve already admitted, and apologized for, my mistake. I should have trusted you the same way you trusted me.

Searching Clark‘s eyes for any kind of sign as to what was going on inside his head, Lana said, “At your parents’ house, you told me you still love me. What I’m here for tonight, is to hear why that love isn’t enough. To hear what’s keeping us apart.” Lana could see Clark’s mouth begin to move, but no sound came out. Lana was sure if she could just get Clark to admit openly what he had inadvertently told her in the still of the night, that they would get back together. So, she upped the ante by pleading, “Tell me why, Clark. Please?”

Transfixed by Lana’s hazel eyes, Clark began, haltingly, to speak. “When you first broke up with me, I was mad because…because you didn’t trust me.” The fingers of his right hand began to play with the handle of the delicate Wedgwood china tea cup. “When I blew up at you in my parents’ front yard, I thought I couldn’t trust you with my heart again.” Clark took a careless sip of the still steaming tea, gathered himself and forged ahead. “But it’s not about trust,” he said, “not anymore, and I doubt that it ever really was.”

Clark’s eyes finally broke contact with Lana’s and he was too ashamed to continue until Lana said, “You’ve told me what the reason isn’t, Clark. Please tell me what it is. You’ve told me all of your secrets. You can tell me this.”

A loose shrug of his shoulders seemed to break the logjam in his throat and it all came pouring out. “I’m scared. Simple as that. When you broke up with me, I learned exactly how much I love you, how much I need you…and that scares me more anything else in the world.

“And then, you read your ‘love list’ to me and I realized just how many different ways my love has failed you. ‘Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’”

Lana was awed by the perfect recall exhibited by Clark’s recitation, but he continued on, saying, “You can decide for yourself how I’ve failed you there…”

Lana cut him off with a firm squeeze of his fingers and said, “Love is kind: I seem to remember a man who came out to refill my thermos with something hot night after night. Love always protects: that same man brought me inside after I fell asleep to keep me safe and warm. Love is not self-seeking: you gave up your bed to me, even though you can’t possibly sleep comfortably on that couch. Love never fails: despite what I said to you, you still love me.

“Sounds like you’ve made a pretty good start at loving me. I’m your second love, you are my first. We are new at this. We will learn how to better love each other in the days ahead, but only if we are together. Please forgive me and take me back.

“As for your fear, well , would it help you to know I need you just as much as you need me? It’s like that old LeAnn Rimes song, ‘I need you like water, like breath, like rain…I need you like mercy from Heaven’s gate.’” Pulling a wayward curl back behind her ear, Lana finished by saying, “A fear shared by two is only half as scary, don’t you think?”

“I do not deserve you,” Clark said clearly. Lana then thought she heard him mumble, ‘Talk about throwing pearls before swine,’ toward his soup, but she could not be sure. He finally looked back at her, red-eyed but smiling and said in a whisper, “Only if you forgive me, for being an idiot and making this much more painful than it should have been.”

Lana’s mouth blossomed into the biggest, happiest smile Clark could ever remember. Her dimples were as deep as canyons. Now that she had what she wanted, she could relax her iron control and begin to cry quietly, all the while nodding ‘yes.’”

Clark reached over and handed her a handkerchief from the inside pocket of his suit coat, and as she dabbed her eyes, the waiter came up and Clark motioned him to take away the now-cold soup. “I believe we are ready for the salads now,” he said.

The rest of the five-star meal passed by quickly. The salads were followed by the main courses, but while Clark and Lana enjoyed them, their full attention was on each other. They could not stop stealing little looks at each other like they were school kids in the cafeteria. During conversation, each tried to take the lion’s share of the blame for what had happened between them, until they mutually agreed that there was plenty of blame for both of them to share.

Clark had one question that he wanted answered and so he asked, “What ever possessed you to camp out in front of my townhouse? I was already crazy from having you pop up in front of me all over campus.”

“Umm…well…I was desperate. It was crushing me to know I had driven you away from me so unjustly and I wanted you back, so, once you told me at your parents’ house that you still loved me, I decided I was either going to get you back or force you to drive me away. There was not going to be any slow drifting apart where our love just faded away.”

Clark shook his head in amazement and said, “I don’t know how to tell you exactly how much I admired your determination. You broke me down twice during those four nights. If you had kept it up, I don’t know what would have happened.”

Not wanting to keep any secrets from him, Lana said sheepishly, “Clark? I, umm, kind of heard your confession on Thursday night.” As Clark began to flush with embarrassment, Lana pushed ahead and said, “In fact, I made sure I stayed awake to see what you might do or say after I ‘fell asleep.’” Looking to see if he appeared upset, Lana asked, “Forgive me for being sneaky?”

“If forgiveness is what you want, then you have it, though I don’t think you need it for listening in on my confession to you.” Clark winked at her and said, “Next time I feel the need to confess to you in your sleep, I’ll just make sure you’re actually asleep first.”

At last, the dessert course was brought out. Lana had Bananas Foster and Clark had Crème Brûlée. After dinner, Clark left a good tip for the waiter in spite of the maître d’s assertion that tips had been taken care of and then he helped Lana with her chair. Once she adjusted her shawl, they made their way to the door, much closer, both emotionally and physically, than when they came in.

As she climbed into the limousine, Lana noticed Clark tipping the doorman. After he joined her, she asked playfully, “I wonder if those tips were any larger because of how happy you are?”

“I hadn’t thought about it like that, but I bet you’re right.”

During the entire drive to the Odeon Theater in the Village Green section of Metropolis, Clark and Lana were pressed so closely together, that the only way to tell where he started and she stopped was the clothes they were wearing. That closeness had its effect and they starting kissing. The first kisses were tentative, as if they had forgotten how, but then they continued with increasing confidence and passion.

Clark broke his face away from Lana’s just long enough to tell the chauffeur that, as they had plenty of time before the ten o’clock showing, they were in no hurry to make it to the theater. By the time the limousine finally stopped in front of the theater, Lana was sitting in Clark’s lap and there was no spot on either of their faces and necks that had gone unkissed.

They reluctantly broke their clinch, Lana scooted off Clark’s lap and out the door. Clark followed, and as the chauffeur pulled away, he noticed there was a small fly in the ointment of this otherwise remarkable evening. The movie marquee said South Pacific instead of Dr. Zhivago. An inquiry at the ticket booth let them know that a reel for Dr. Zhivago had broken and that South Pacific was the best movie they had on hand as a replacement.

Clark was somewhat disappointed until Lana assured him everything would be fine. She let him know she had seen it on TV years ago and that there was plenty of romance involved in the story line. Thus reassured, Clark bought two tickets and they made their way inside. While Lana went to the ladies’ room to fix her makeup, Clark bought a large popcorn and two sodas.

The story of love and war in the South Pacific during World War II was enchanting and quite funny, but when the song “Some Enchanted Evening” came on the screen, Clark and Lana instinctively held each other close.


“Some Enchanted Evening” - Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

Some enchanted evening
You may see a stranger,
you may see a stranger
Across a crowded room
And somehow you know,
You know even then
That somewhere you'll see her
Again and again.

Some enchanted evening
Someone may be laughin',
You may hear her laughin'
Across a crowded room
And night after night,
As strange as it seems
The sound of her laughter
Will sing in your dreams.

Who can explain it?
Who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons,
Wise men never try.

Some enchanted evening
When you find your true love,
When you feel her call you
Across a crowded room,
Then fly to her side,
And make her your own
For all through your life you
May dream all alone.

Once you have found her,
Never let her go.
Once you have found her,
Never let her go

The last stanza was particularly moving for the both of them and they clutched each other tighter. When Nellie and Emile overcame their differences to find love, and the movie was at an end, Clark and Lana slowly made their way outside. Their excellent chauffeur only made them wait a minute, but as neither one wanted this date to end, they both wished the wait would have been longer.

Standing there on the concrete sidewalk, Clark tried to think of ways to extend this date. It was nearly 1 a.m. by now, and though Clark knew he could keep them safe anywhere at any time, he had the chauffeur to think of also. So, as much as he wanted to be driven to Forest Park so he and Lana could once again sit on their bench near the boathouse, he decided it was time to go home.

When the chauffeur opened the passenger door for them, Clark quietly gave him Lana’s address. The drive to her apartment was only fifteen minutes at this time of the morning, and they spent it telling and showing each other just how much they cared for one another. Verbal ‘I love yous’ were interspersed with passionate kisses the whole way there.

The limousine edged its way next to the curb, and the when the door opened and the young couple made their way onto the sidewalk, Clark gave the driver the largest tip of the evening and dismissed him.

“I live nearby and will walk home after escorting my date to her door,” Clark said. “I need to stretch my legs after all of this sitting.”

Each of them had an arm wrapped around the other’s waist, and Lana’s irises were nestled in her other arm. When they reached the door, they turned to face each other and Lana said, “Thanks for the most wonderful evening a girl could ever hope for, Clark.”

“You were the one that made it happen, I was just along for the ride.”

“Maybe, but all that I needed for this date to be a success, no matter what the itinerary, was you. I love you so much, that almost anything is romantic when I’m by your side.”

“I know I told you this back at my parents’ house, but when I’m with you, I’m so much more than when I’m alone. I’m so glad you stuck it out and helped me get past my fear.” Clark looped both arms around Lana’s back and pulled her in close and said, “I love you, and I intend to stay with you for a very long time.”

He then lowered his lips to hers and they kissed. Soft, sweet, and lingering, this kiss was special. It was more than an exploration of liberated feelings, it was a statement, one that both of them recognized.

When they finally broke for a gasp of air, Lana leaned against his muscular chest and said, “That’s your choice, I hope you’re ready to live with it.”

Clark’s chin had found a resting spot on top of Lana’s head and one hand was stroking her hair when he said, “I am, I most definitely am.”

[deanyouk]

1st

YES!!! finally they are reuinited.... where one soul goes the other will be right beside it!

I cant wait for ur next update... I hope ur not considering ending the story soon!

[itsallinthespelling]

well, 63 chapters, 2 races missed, one hockey game missed, and twenty three and a half hours later, i have finally read the entire story up to the most recent update, and i must say, i don't know why i didn't start reading this one early. it is amazing, and definetly one of my favorites. The amount of insight you have on both girl and guy talk is amazing, and the creativity put into this story is awesome as well. i can't wait to see how much farther this story goes, and will be waiting for the next update. ppms

[Cardinal]

Dude, I thought you had abandoned us here on the Clana pages.

If you missed the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola World 600 just to read my fic, then you are one crazy person! But I thank you anyway! ;)

[superman_lives_on]

......*pheeeewww*

Well, it's about time! It never really was about trust--it was fear, plain and simple, and the stupidity that Clark suffered because of that fear. But no more--NEVER again.

I'm NOT sorry that you've lost, Candy Morgan! :mad: In fact, I've never felt better! :D

PPMS!

[akuma]

YAY YAY YAY They are FINALLY back together:D:D:D:D:D:D:D Great writing Card, but were do we go from here? PPMS

[maru11]

awesome update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SVsleuth]

Awesome, chapter, Cardinal. Finally Lana broke through to Clark. It is so wonderful to see them back together at last. Such a relief. With a sigh of contentment, my smile grew wider & wider as I read this update. Yes, that certainly was an enchanted evening.
Remember this, Clark, always:

Once you have found her, never let her go.
Once you have found her, never let her go.

Now Clark & Lana have a much deeper, stronger love, strengthened by this trial they have gone through in their relationship.

Loved the making out in the limo so much. :)

Great writing, Card. Thanks for sharing your talents with us. Looking forward to more soon. ;)

And, Rick, that WAS a marathon read for you - holy cow! You should have started from the beginning with us. ;)

[ClanaLover]

7th! Awesome update!!!!!! AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!! PPMASAP!!!

So...Wow!!! Yays! :D

[Nemu]

I wont use as eloquent words as my fellow readers...

but this was an excellent update.. And a nice read to come home to after a boring day at work ;)

finally they are back together...

Now... I guess the next few updates will be Lana and Clark telling all to Chloe and maybe Elaine too... I hope that one had a nice date too...

PPMS :D

[SpeedyKate91]

Awsom Update!!!!! PPMS!!!!!

[C.A.chick]

Oh my! I have missed sooooooooo much!


“I love you.” Her thumb lightly rubbed along the back of his fingers, tracing a line straight across his knuckles. “That’s what it all comes down to, Clark. I love you. You’re the first man I’ve ever loved, and I hope you’ll be the last.” I love the honesty. She just plain out explains why she won't give up. Her love is so deep and true that through all of the fight she never gave up. I loved the way you made the whole evening turn out.


“I’m scared. Simple as that. When you broke up with me, I learned exactly how much I love you, how much I need you…and that scares me more anything else in the world. Its surprising that Clark managed to actually telll Lana this. He's always such a quiet person, it shows how much he truly cares when he realizes that his love for her is his whole life.

WONDERFUL! Absolutely brilliant. How did I miss all this?!'m soooooooo happy that the Clana is back! THANKS!

BY THE WAY CARD: Can you reply to my old P.M?

[treker]

I have only one thing to say....

F I N A L L Y O U R S U P E R C O U P L E I S B A C K!!!!!

Thank you cardinal. I very well written update. I am finally happy again. :) :) :) :) :)F I N A L L Y O U R S U P E R C O U P L E I S B A C K!!!!!

[LovinMe210]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!1 F I N A L L Y!!!! I going to go do cartwheels right now!!!! ppms!!!!

[MOOman0618]

Wow...I had missed 4 updates!! I just can't leave the boards anymore.

Awesome updates Card...SOOOOO great that they are back together now! YEA!!! And their date was so romantic and they kissed again for the first time in so long.

So now what is in store for the reunited couple?? How about destroying Candy!! Mwa ha ha ha!!

Post more soon! :)

[maitriniazngurl]

Cardinal that was terrific, amazing, and wonderful!!! Clana is finally reunited at last. It was so romantic and just awesome!!

[mcgairman]

Once again, anoher great update from Cardinal. You have great talent and I enjoy all your stuff. You and AJ are the only Clana shippers I really go for. Keep it up.

[LetMeGo]

At last! Wow!! That was great Card!! :D

[NYC300Z]

Yes finally! Took them long enough!;)

PPMS!;)

[mysteryman1]

Update Soon.

[annaliese]

yesssssssss awesome update!!!!!
ppms!

[Cardinal]

Chapter 64 - Canoodling

Neither Clark nor Lana wanted the date to end, but it was well past 1 a.m. by now and both of them had class at 9:30 on Thursday mornings, so it was time to say goodnight.

One last goodbye kiss quickly became two and before they knew it, Lana had pulled Clark inside the door with her. Her hands were exploring his chest while both of his hands were now running through her hair.

Clark broke their latest kiss and stammered, “I don’t…I’m not…I think maybe we ought to wait for anything more, Lana. I think we ought to wait for sex.”

“Me too, Clark,” Lana said between nibbles on his face, “but I just got you back, and I don’t want you to leave yet.”

“Umm…Lana?” Clark gasped.

“Yes?”

“If we keep this up much longer…”

“Yeah.”

Lana released her hold on Clark’s body and instead grabbed him by the hand and led him to an overstuffed wing chair in her living room. When she pointed at the chair, Clark looked at it dubiously and said, “As big as that chair is, I don’t think we can both fit in it.”

Not waiting to explain, Lana pulled her hand out of his grip, put it into the middle of his chest, and pushed him back toward the chair. When the back of his knees hit the front of the chair, his legs folded up and he collapsed into the very cushy seat. To complete her capture, Lana sat down on top of Clark and wiggled her way into his lap so that she was facing sideways with her legs dangling over one arm of the chair.

Not sure what Lana had in mind, Clark sat there waiting for her to make her next move. The one thing he really liked about having her on his lap was that it put their faces on the same level. That was nice for both of them and Lana made use of that easy access by planting a soft kiss right on his lips.

“Lana…” Clark said when she finally broke the kiss.

“I know,” she said, but unable to resist one last tease, she ground her butt back and forth on Clark’s lap.

Clark lifted her off of his lap and said, “Lana, as much as I want our first time to be something special, something planned out in advance, if you do that one more time, we won’t even make it to a bedroom. I’ll just pick you up, throw you onto the futon, and have my way with you.”

“Okay, Clark, I’ll be good.” As he set her back down, she said, “Throwing me onto the futon might be good for a second time, but I agree, I want our first time to be something special.”

Looking at her seriously, Clark asked, “So what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know, I just wasn’t ready to let you go home yet.”

Clark picked up the TV remote control which was sitting next to the chair, and, like most guys, he started channel surfing. He and Lana took turns making fun of the many infomercials that were on at this time of the morning, but when he turned on the classic movie channel, they found that the movie he had originally wanted to see this evening, Dr. Zhivago, was coming on at 2 a.m.

Both of them considered this to be an omen, so they scrambled off the chair and got ready for the movie. Since Lana’s meteor rock necklace was still in her bedroom, she went in there to dig out an old comforter, while Clark headed to the kitchen to make hot chocolate.

When the movie started, Lana and Clark were snuggled together on the futon, loosely wrapped in Lana’s comforter and sipping the hot chocolate. As the opening credits started, Clark turned to Lana and said, “Next time you go to your Aunt Nell’s, you ought to take that meteor rock necklace with you and leave it there.”

Confused, she turned to him and asked, “Why?”

All Clark had to do was wiggle his eyebrows as he gave her his most lecherous grin and Lana caught on.

“D’oh!” She slapped herself on the forehead and said, “Of course! If we’re going to have a first time, it would be nice if you could come into my bedroom without becoming violently sick.”

“Yeah,” Clark said with a straight face, “curling up in a ball as every muscle in my body cramps would tend to put a damper on romance.”

They settled in to watch the movie, but it was not long after they finished their hot chocolate that they both fell asleep, entangled in the comforter and each other.

Clark was the first to wake, as his hearing picked up the insistent beeping of a not-so-distant alarm. Once he came to, he shook Lana awake and tried to rub the gunk out of his eyes. When Lana came to, she looked up at Clark, who leaned down, kissed her, and said, “Morning, Sweetheart.”

Lana grinned from ear to ear and said, “Good morning, My Love.”

“My Love, huh?” Clark said as he returned her smile. “I think I could get used to hearing that from you.” Clark checked his watch and saw that it was nearly 7:30 “I need to get going. No lifting today, thank God, or else I’d already be late.”

As Clark tried to disentangle himself from the comforter and stand up, Lana held him on the futon and said, “We don’t have to be at class until 9:30, that’s two hours away which gives us plenty of time for what Aunt Nell would refer to as ‘canoodling.’”

“What about the alarm?”

“It shuts off on it’s own after five minutes. Now, shut up and kiss me.”

That was all the convincing Clark needed and they spent the next half hour slowly kissing and cuddling and just enjoying each other’s presence, before the built up heat between them convinced Clark it was time to go home. When he stood up, he saw his suit was already severely rumpled. Lana had taken off her shawl when looking for the comforter, but her dress was just as wrinkly as his suit. Oh well, he thought, a few wrinkles are a small price to pay for the night we‘ve had.

Clark hurried home, though without using super-speed, and rushed into the townhouse to get ready for school. He wanted to eat breakfast in the cafeteria and meet Lana in time to walk her to class, so he had to hurry.

Pete was getting ready to leave as Clark came in. Pete took a long look at Clark’s state of disarray. When he was done, he whistled long and low and said, “That must have been some date. It looks like Lana just about tore the clothes off of you.” When he looked back up at Clark, he said, “I take it you two are back together again.”

Clark nodded yes and Pete replied, “Well, it’s about time. Women like Lana don’t grow on trees and you were about to kick her out of your life.” Pete took a seat on his couch and motioned for Clark to sit on the other couch. Clark obliged him and took a seat. Pete then leaned forward and said, “So, tell me. What was it like? I see that stupid grin you’ve got on your face and you were out all night, so you must have gotten some action.”

“Nothing happened, Pete. Lana and I had a great date and we got back together, but there was no sex involved…and if there was, I might tell you it happened, but I’d never talk about the details.”

“Aw, come on, Clark. You can tell me.”

Clark shook his head no and said, “A gentleman never tells. If we become physically intimate and she decides to tell her friends, that’s up to her. After all, as a guy, my reputation won’t be hurt if she tells, but if I start talking, there’s no telling what kind of rumors about Lana that might get spread around.”

Pete held up his hands in surrender and said, “Okay, I see where you’re coming from. I did tell you that Veronica and I are having sex, but I never told you any details either.”

“See? I knew you were a good guy.”

Pete rubbed his chin and asked, “So, if you and Lana weren’t getting ‘down and dirty,’ where were you all night?”

“Umm...I was at Lana's place.”

Pete scooted forward so he was sitting on the edge of the couch and said, “See? I knew it the minute I saw that smug look on your face. That‘s the ‘I got me some loving’ look if I ever saw it.”

“Pete, nothing happened...not outside of some serious kissing anyway.”

“Are you expecting me to believe you spent the night with the girl of your dreams and nothing happened?” Incredulous now, Pete asked, “What kind of chump do you think I am?” When Clark did not respond, Pete added, “No horizontal disrobics? No time between the sheets? Nothing?”

“Nope, not even any time on top of the sheets, Pete. Though we were wrapped up in a comforter on her futon, we were both fully clothed.”

Pete threw his hands in the air and said, “Well, no wonder nothing happened! You both have to get undressed first. I thought you knew that by now.”

Clark started laughing and could not stop. Pete chuckled a bit and then got up and said, “I’ve got to go to the library before class. I’ll see you later.” Before he disappeared out the door, he said loudly, “Tell Lana I said, ‘Hi.’”

[SVsleuth]

“What about the alarm?”

“It shuts off on it’s own after five minutes. Now, shut up and kiss me.”
I can so hear Lana saying that!

Pete threw his hands in the air and said, “Well, no wonder nothing happened! You both have to get undressed first. I thought you knew that by now.” :lol: Pete is so funny!

And naughty Lana for being a tease while on Clark's lap. :p

What an awesome Clana filled update. We deserved it after having to endure the separation for what seemed like forever. So glad they are happily back together now. :D:D:D:D:D Can't wait for more happy Clana updates.

PPMS!

[ClanaLover]

2nd! :D


“Throwing me onto the futon might be good for a second time”
:rotfl: Lol!!!

“We don’t have to be at class until 9:30, that’s two hours away which gives us plenty of time for what Aunt Nell would refer to as ‘canoodling.’”
lol When I looked at the title I was like, "What in the world is 'canoodling'?" I know now! :lol: I like canoodling! ;) But why is it called canoodling? :confused:

:rotfl: Awesome update! lol Very funny too! :lol: :D PPMASAP!!!

That update was kind of short though...:\

[superman's my hero]

3rd!! Cute! That was hilarious. Favorite line:

"That's the 'I got some lovin' look if I ever did see one" haha

[deanyouk]

Great update!!!

[mysteryman1]

Update Soon.

[akuma]

Great update Card, now for revenge on Candy!!

[itsallinthespelling]

awesome update card, glad to see that everything seems to be patched up between clark and lana. can't wait for the next update. ppms

[annaliese]

update soon!!!

[superman_lives_on]

Very nice--and funny in several places, especially with Pete! :D Now, the strike against Candy...

PPMS!

[MOOman0618]

Lana is such a tease!! And after Clark already told her no!! OOO...girls can be so evil when they want to be.

Great update! Post more soon!!


SOOO glad they are back together!!

[maitriniazngurl]

Card, that was so wonderfully done... and hilarious. Clark spending time at Lana's, kissing, cuddling, and just plain sexy...

Please update soon I'm dying for just one more update right now!! :D

[NYC300Z]

Clark defiently had more self control than humanly possible if Lana did that to me I'd have put her on that futon! oh yeah and Pete was great at the end! We haven't seen too much of him in this fic....

PPMS!;)

[mysteryman1]

Update soon.

[annaliese]

post more soon!

[tygershot]

Wow! I go away for a few days and the updates come rolling in! PPMS!

[Dr. Jeckyll]

Hey! I like where this is going! That was one of the most clanaliscious updates I've ever read. Fantastic writing, Card. You write both serious hotness and humour fantastically well. And like some others mentioned - Lana is such a TEASE! Clark must've had some serious trouble there! Can't wait for the next update now that clana is back :D:D PPMS!

[SVsleuth]

Where's our update, Card? :p

[Cardinal]

Chapter 65 - Crime and Punishment

Clark and Lana walked to class together on Thursday morning as had been their habit before the breakup. Afraid to take anything for granted after what they had just been through, they held hands a bit more tightly, smiled more often, and listened to each other more intently.

The people around campus who knew exactly what had been going on between Clark and Lana were few in number, but anyone who saw them this morning would have no trouble recognizing a couple in love.

When Clark dropped Lana off at the entrance to her Astronomy class, they kissed sweetly before he unslung both backpacks from his left shoulder and gave hers to her. “This walk today has been much nicer than being ambushed just outside the building by my crazy ex-girlfriend.”

Lana poked him on the breastbone and said, “I’m sure I don’t know who you could be talking about.”

Clark’s face screwed up with pretended concentration as he stared off into the distance and said, “Oh, you likely haven’t seen her, but she’s about 4’ 10”, weighs at least 250 pounds, and her teeth are yellow and more crooked than five miles of mountain highway.” Clark peeked at Lana out of the corner of his eye and asked, “Sound like anyone you know?”

Grinning, Lana stuck her tongue out, and as she headed into class, said, “What it sounds like to me, is that you need to have your eyes examined.”

Clark stopped Lana with an outstretched arm, and said, “But not my head. My heart and mind are in step now and together, they see you more clearly than ever.” With that, Clark let her go. Lana stood at the door and watched him until he moved out of sight. For his part, Clark came close to floating up the stairs on his way to Astrophysics.

The whole day went that way, after their 11 o’clock classes, they went to eat a leisurely lunch in the cafeteria before Clark had to go to practice. When Lana came back into his life, so did his focus, and practice went more smoothly for him than at any time since the breakup.

Upon leaving practice, Clark was met by Lana, as he expected, and also by Chloe. Flanked by the two women, he headed toward the cafeteria and a welcome dinner. At Chloe’s insistence, the three diners took as secluded a table as they could find. When they were seated, with Chloe across from Clark and Lana, Clark asked, “What’s up, Chloe?” as he prepared to bite into a hot, crusty roll.

Chloe gave a dubious look at what was being passed off as coffee before chancing a sip. Pleasantly surprised, she said, “Not bad for industrial.”

Lana and Clark shared a look and giggled at the resident coffee snob. Chloe just basked in the warm glow of her friends’ renewed romance and enjoyed the small part she had played in bringing them back together. It was, however, her large role in helping them get even that brought her here tonight.

Chloe leaned in and said, “I’m here to fill you two in on what has been happening with Elaine and me. She really wanted to be here tonight, but we decided she needs to avoid any public connection with you two until we finish what we started…namely, getting Candy kicked out of the tri-Alphas.”

Clark and Lana shared another look, but this one was serious. When they turned back to Chloe, she was struck by the twin looks of anger and determination on their faces. All Clark said was, “We’re in.”

Chloe smiled and said briskly, “All right. Lana knows some of this, Clark, but I’ll go over everything for your benefit.” Chloe paused to make sure her audience was paying attention, and then she said, “When Elaine first came over to Lana’s and told us the tape was a fake, Elaine and I started making plans to strike back while Lana was busy thinking her world had just come to an end.” Clark slid his arm around Lana’s back and gave her a reassuring hug.

“Basically, I was going to start my end of the investigation by looking into who has the equipment and the talent to make a fake of that caliber that quickly. It actually took less time than I thought it would. I talked to some friends of mine to see if they knew of anyone that would fit the bill. They didn’t, but they did direct me to a wholesale computer store where most of the local tech-heads go to get their rigs.

“When I told the guy at the counter that I needed a ‘special job’ done and I needed it in a hurry, he gave me a short list of people, but he said that the guy at the top, Chase Price, was the best bet.”

Chloe gave them one of her dazzling grins and said, “All I had to do then was go down the list, one by one, pretending to be a tri-Alpha sent by Candy to retrieve any extra copies of the tape he might have. All I was really looking for was a reaction that indicated the guy knew Candy, and I hit paydirt on the first try. When I told him who I really was and that he was about to become front page news in the school newspaper for what he had helped do to you two, he became so cooperative.”

Clark and Lana were both grinning widely by this time, and Chloe added, “I guess he was afraid of what might happen to his expensive computer equipment when his fellow students found out he was messing with our All-American quarterback.” Chloe shrugged her shoulders and said, “Anyway, I got his confession on tape. After that , the ball was in Elaine’s court, and, to mix sports metaphors, she hit a home run.”

Curious, Clark leaned forward and asked, “Elaine? What did she do?”

Chloe waved him back into his seat and said, “I was getting to that, Clark. Take a chill pill.” Clark rolled his eyes while Chloe shared a smile with Lana. “Elaine’s job was to take the original tape that Candy sent to Lana and see if Lex Luthor’s people at Luthor Corp could shed any light on what really had been recorded. Lex hooked them up with a guy from the Luthor Corp Digital Media Lab. When that guy saw the tape was a VHS copy, he said there wasn’t much he could do.”

Chloe took another swallow of her coffee, and said, “What he said next, however, was key. He said if he had the original digital recording, he might be able to learn what had been done to the video. He was talking about the edited digital video that Mr. Price made, but she thought he was talking about the original tape that Candy made and so she began to think about where Candy might hide her original copy. As far as she knew, there was only one likely place, the wall-safe in the President’s Office in the tri-Alpha sorority house.”

Chloe paused for dramatic effect, until Lana said, “And?”

“The combination to that safe is known by only three people. The president, who was Candy Morgan, the treasurer, and the vice-president…who just happened to be Elaine Thompson.” All three of them were wall-to-wall grins by now. “Elaine went into the office on ‘official business’ one night while Candy was out of the house, and she found both the original tape from the camcorder and the edited version that Mr. Price had supplied. Apparently, Candy had hooked up the camcorder to a VCR to dub off the copy she gave to Lana.”

Chloe sat back, fully satisfied with what she had said so far. “Those two tapes, along with Mr. Price’s confession, were all we really needed. Elaine then called a special meeting of the entire sorority for Sunday night, and we went over how to present the information to the sisterhood.”

“When it came time to present the tapes, she played them simultaneously on side-by-side TVs. Where she got two digital camcorders of that type on short notice, I don’t know. According to Elaine, the girls were kind of grossed out to be watching Candy screw two different guys and they began to complain, asking what this was all about. Candy was off-the-wall livid, and when she tried to take control of the meeting, Elaine rebuffed her and played Mr. Price’s confession.

“Elaine said the only thing you could hear in that room was the sound of Chase Price telling the world that he had made the tape with Clark in it for Candy’s personal use. At first, the girls thought she was just being sick about her lust for you, Clark, but when Elaine told them that a copy of the tape ended up dropped through Clark’s girlfriend’s mail slot, the place went from silence to tumultuous uproar in an instant.

“When they quieted down, Elaine came to the point. She asked if this kind of behavior is what they wanted from a tri-Alpha, particularly from the president of the sorority. When most of the girls shook their heads no, Elaine asked for a vote of no-confidence in Candy’s leadership.

“That passed easily, only needing a bare majority. Traditionally in that sorority, when a leader receives a no-confidence vote, she steps down automatically. Candy, however, held on, stating that she would never quit. Elaine said she was sorry and then asked for a vote of impeachment that would force her out whether or not she wanted to go.” Chloe could barely contain her excitement as she said, “They needed a two-thirds majority to kick Candy out of the president’s office, and they got it with room to spare. Candy’s DONE as tri-Alpha president.”

Clark and Lana shared a hug and they both thanked Chloe for the work that she and Elaine had done on their behalf. Chloe just waited, and was finally rewarded when Clark said, “That only got her knocked out of her position, she’s still in the sorority. Isn’t she?”

“Yup,” Chloe replied, “and that’s where you two come in.”

“What can we do to help?” Lana asked. She was so worked up that steam should have been coming out of her ears. “I want to bury her alive. Girls like that make me ashamed to call myself a girl.”

Clark absentmindedly rubbed Lana’s back with one hand to try and ease her tension as he said, “As long as it’s not illegal, I’m in.” Clark peeked quickly at Lana and saw she was still upset. “Looks like Lana’s in whether you’re planning something legal or not.”

Finding out that her anger was evident to her friends made Lana smile briefly before Chloe started in on the new plan. “Basically, we need you two to tell everyone you know on campus that you broke up and are now back together and that you broke up because the tri-Alphas were playing dirty tricks.

“Make sure you both emphasize that it was the tri-Alphas that did this. Clark, we especially need you to tell everyone on the football team, since a number of your teammates are so closely connected to the tri-Alphas. When word starts to filter back to them that their reputation is being seriously damaged by this event, they will really turn on Candy. Getting her removed from the sorority should be child’s play after that.”

When Clark and Lana agreed, Chloe started to eat her dinner, and Clark went back for seconds. Lana worked on her half-eaten salad and smiled to see Clark’s voracious appetite at work.

When he came back to their table, he said, “Last year’s break up between Lori and me and the team’s subsequent loss to Arkansas that cost us a shot at the national championship was bad enough. Finding out that a stunt like this was pulled by the sorority that prides itself on its close relationship with the football team will not sit well with my teammates.”

Things went roughly according to plan. Clark borrowed the two digital tapes and the two camcorders from Elaine, and borrowed the video recording of Chase Price from Chloe to present all of this information to his teammates before practice. As predicted, his teammates saw this as an attack upon the team itself and responded accordingly. Girlfriends from the tri-Alpha sorority were getting the cold shoulder in a show of solidarity. This, combined with the stories that were starting to filter back to individual tri-Alphas and Elaine’s ability to get Candy’s former cronies Jessica and Angie to testify, sealed Candy’s doom. A week after Clark and Lana got back together, Candy was kicked completely out of the tri-Alpha sorority for ‘conduct unbecoming a sister of the honorable Alpha Alpha Alpha sorority.’

[SVsleuth]

1st! Finally Candy got what she deserved. I supposed Clark could have pressed charges against her for defamation of character - but wouldn't want the national publicity that would set off, with him being the star of the football team and all. So at least Candy lost on all fronts, & Clark and Lana are rid of her meddling.

Can't wait for some more Clanaliscious updates. :)

[LetMeGo]

2nd :D

That was great!!! Loved seeing Candy pay for her dirty deeds! PPMS :)

[superman_lives_on]

So Candy the b!atch is finally defeated for good--we hope. YAY! :D :D :D But Lana has yet to meet Jor-El...I'd like for those two to have a friendly conversation.

PPMS! :D :D :D

[ClanaLover]

4th! Awesme update Card! PPMASAP!!!

Ha ha Candy! Take that!

[akuma]

Serves tht !#$#$ right! Great update Card, PPMS

[superman's my hero]

Yesss!! Candy totally got what was coming to her! Great update! PPMS!

[clanas1ally]

Awesome please keep it up

[Nemu]

oh yeah that was nice... finally she got what she deserved... well... they all did in a way...

Lana got Clark back... Clark got Lana back... Candy got her sorry a$$ kicked out... I'm sure Chloe will spin something up from that mess... and Elaine might become pres of the sorority (if she wants it or not is another story ;))

Great chapter Card...

PPMS :D

[Cardinal]

Originally posted by Nemu
... and Elaine might become pres of the sorority (if she wants it or not is another story ;))



Elaine IS the president, at least for the rest of the school year. Being Vice-President, she automatically takes over for the rest of the school year. Now, who knows if she'll want it next year.

The real question is who will succeed Elaine as VP. Could it be Veronica? :confused: Who knows? :rolleyes:

[treker]

nice.....very nice cardinal. Having candy be ejected from office and subsequently thrown out of the sorienty will be an embarrasment that she will never live down. Now isn't it time for her to be expelled from school?

And isn't it time for Clark to start planning for his "BIG" night with Lana?

[NYC300Z]

They sure took care of her in a hurry! Nice way to finish her off or is she finished? dun dun dun lol

PPMS!

[deanyouk]

that was great

[Minnesotagirl]

Great update, Card! I am really enjoying your fic!

[SpeedyKate91]

Awsome Update!!!! PPMS!!!!!

[MOOman0618]

HA HA!!! Take that stupid Candy!!! Finally getting what she deserves...

No, actually she deserves much worse. But oh well. :)

Can't wait for more Card! POST MORE SOON!! :)

[itsallinthespelling]

glad to see that candy finally got what she deserved, can't wait for the next update. ppms

[maru11]

great update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
updaet soon!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mysteryman1]

Update soon.

[maitriniazngurl]

Card, please update soon!! We're all waiting.. :D

[maru11]

update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SVsleuth]

Where's the update, Card. I know you were working on it? PPMS!

[mysteryman1]

Update soon.

[clanas1ally]

update soon :p

[SVsleuth]

BUMP! ;)

[Cardinal]

Chapter 66 - Sunday

On Sunday, just four days after Clark went over to Lana’s place to pick her up for their first social engagement after they reunited. It was just a Martha Kent lunch and an afternoon of football, but he was apprehensive nonetheless. He wondered how his parents would react. He had told his dad about the breakup with Lana and he assumed his dad would have told his mom by now. Of course, since Lana had gone to his folks’ house yesterday to watch his game, they would also know that everything had worked out. Still, the first reactions from his parents would always be important to him. They had been his primary role models his entire life and had informed his decisions in many areas, so this trip was important to him.

For her part, Lana was so eager to spend some time with Clark and his family, that she was waiting for him when he drove into her parking lot. She did not even give him time to get out and hold the door for her, she just hurried to the door and climbed in, slid over next to him, leaned in for a quick good morning kiss, and buckled herself in.

Amused at Lana’s enthusiasm, Clark said, as he drove away from Lana’s place, “It looks like someone’s excited this morning.”

“Well, of course I am. It’s our first outing as a couple since we got back together.” Looking up at Clark with a mischievous grin, Lana added, “I like spending time with you, or hadn’t you noticed that.”

“The four days you spent camped out in my front yard made that point quite clear, a point that was only reinforced when you bought me at the livestock auc…I mean bachelor auction.”

Lana’s mood could only be accurately described as effervescent. The normally placid young woman was bubbling over with energy and good humor today. Then what I have planned will just be icing on the cake, Clark thought. The whole way across town, they enjoyed a spirited conversation, which finally turned to Candy Morgan’s recent ouster from the tri-Alpha sorority.

“I was so glad to hear Candy was sent packing,” Clark said. “After what she almost did to us…” Clark shook his head. “Anyway, my dad said something to me about Candy that was a big help in getting us back together.”

Curious, Lana tilted her head toward Clark and asked, “Really? What?”

“He said that since Candy was trying to break us up with that tape, staying away from you would mean that Candy had won. It was a whole new perspective on things. I knew she had tried to break us up, but the idea that someone was actually taking enjoyment from our pain had never really hit home until Dad said that.”

“Sounds like I owe your dad a big hug when we get there.” That mischievous grin came back to Lana’s face and she said, “As far as Candy goes, you may have been glad to hear she got kicked out, but I was ecstatic! That girl tried to get between me and my man, and she nearly succeeded. I’m not normally the type of person who gloats, but in this case, I felt I had to make an exception.

“When the guys from Two Men and a Truck showed up yesterday morning to take her packed belongings, I was sitting in my lawn chair on the sidewalk out by the street right in front of the tri-Alpha house with a Big Gulp and a giant bag of popcorn.”

Lana’s eyes took on a faraway look as she reveled in this memory. “When Candy came out of the front door and saw me sitting there watching the show, she went from sad to livid in nothing flat. For a second, I thought she was going to charge over and hit me or something.

“When the last of her belongings were loaded onto the truck, and she had turned over her keys, I stood up collected my chair and my trash, said, ‘The show’s over,’ and went home.”

“Too bad I had to be on the road for a football game, or we could have made that a date,” Clark said. “The only thing worse for Candy than seeing you enjoying her misery instead of the other way around, would have been if we were there as a couple. Showing her that we are together would have hammered home the point that she had lost her sorority membership for nothing.”

When they reached the house, Lana wanted to rush up the steps and into the house, but Clark called her back when she was halfway across the yard, saying, “Come back here for a minute, Lana.”

Lana stopped, turned, and asked, “Why?”

“Well, first, I have something I want to do out here. Also, I’d like us to make our first appearance today side-by-side.”

Curious as to what Clark wanted, she bounced her way back toward him as he started to walk around the truck to meet her. When he came around the front of the truck, she saw that he had one hand behind his back. Intrigued, she asked playfully, “Whatcha got behind your back?”

His hand came around to the front, he said, “Just this…” and opened his hand. Curled up inside was something that glittered. When it uncoiled and dropped down, hanging from just one finger, Lana saw that it was the gold necklace she had returned when she broke up with him.

Clark held it out to her and said, “…a necklace. I was told by someone very dear to me to find a girl with whom I can keep my promises and give this necklace to her. I will always keep my promises to you, Lana. Will you take the necklace back now?”

Lana’s face was flushed. Her embarrassment at remembering what she had said and done that day made it hard for her to meet Clark’s eyes, but she nodded her head and said, “Yes. Please.”

Unclasping the necklace, Clark asked, “May I?”

When Lana looked up enough to realize what he was asking permission for, she hurried to sweep her hair out of the way. Clark stepped behind her, and as he passed the gold across her throat, she tilted her head down to give his hands better access to the back of her neck. Clark quickly worked the small clasp, and seated the necklace against the back of her neck.

Lana moved over in front of a truck window to see the necklace. She adjusted its positioning and, turning to look at Clark, smiled widely.

“It’s right where it belongs,” Clark breathed.

Lana launched herself at Clark to give him a thorough kissing. Finally releasing his face to take his hand for the walk to the house, Lana said, “And I’m right where I belong…by your side.”

When Clark opened the door and followed Lana inside, they could both smell dinner. It definitely smelled like baked ham but when they turned the corner, there was no Martha. Only Kathy was in the room and she was studiously avoiding looking at them. Which likely meant that she had been watching them in front of the house.

“Somebody get an eyeful of us kissing or something?” Clark asked as they made their way into the room.

Kathy started to giggle and said, “Umm…maybe. I just hope my first boyfriend is the same size as me. If he was much taller or shorter like with you two, I don’t know if I’d like kissing him. It almost looks uncomfortable the way you two have to bend your necks.”

Clark leaned toward his sister and said, “Well, I could put my hands under Lana’s butt and lift her up so we could kiss face to face. Would that make you happy, Half-Pint?”

Kathy pointed to Lana , who was on Clark’s other side, and said, “I don’t know about me, but it looks like Lana likes the idea.”

Lana had been thinking about having Clark’s hands on her butt, among other parts of her anatomy, when she saw Kathy grinning at her. Realizing she had been caught with a dreamy look on her face, Lana coughed and quickly changed the subject.

“Where are your folks, Kathy?”

“Dad’s watching TV and Mom went upstairs to change for dinner. She should be down any time now.”

When Martha came downstairs dressed for lunch, she stopped by the den to tell Jonathan it was time for lunch. When they walked into the kitchen, they saw they table set for five, and smiled to see Clark and Lana sitting together and holding hands.

Kathy noticed them first since she was the only one facing the doorway. “Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad,” she said in her normal exuberant voice.

“Hi, Kathy,” they replied.

Clark and Lana pushed back their chairs and stood as one. “Hi, Mom…Dad,” Clark said, greeting his parents in turn.

Lana said, “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Kent.”

Like Clark thought, Lana had told them about their reunion last night. But all the Kents really needed was to see the closeness Clark and Lana exhibited as they stood side-by-side. With her arm around his waist and his arm around her back, they stood there completely at ease, with themselves and with each other.

That made them both smile, and Martha said, “Let me get the food on the table, and we can eat.”

The meal of baked ham, scalloped potatoes, and green beans with tomato sauce was accompanied by two loaves of freshly baked bread. Martha had a vanilla ice cream to go along with a fresh peach cobbler.

Conversation was excited, centering on the continued outstanding performance of the Met U Bulldogs. Only three regular season games were left, followed by the conference championship game, before a bowl season and the possibility of playing for the BCS national championship. Clark tried to deflect talk of a national championship as being premature, with a quarter of the season still left to go, but even Lana got caught up in the excitement, and she knew how Clark felt about this.

No one felt the need to state the obvious and mention that Clark and Lana were back together, and both of them thought that was just fine. The only extra sounds at dinner were the soft clink of cutlery on plates and polite requests for more food.

Appetites finally sated, Clark and Lana, offered to clear the table, put away the few leftovers, load the dishwasher, and wash the pots and pans that were too large for the dishwasher. While they were busy, Clark quietly asked Lana what she thought she was doing by encouraging his family to get all wound up about a game that he might not even get to play in.

Lana said, “I’m sorry, Clark, I didn’t mean to get carried away, but it’s such an exciting topic, that I just had to join in.”

“I might as well try to stop a flood with a sieve as try to stop Met U football fans from getting excited…and that includes my girlfriend and my family.”

Once the kitchen was clean, Clark brought the love seat into the den so all five of them could watch comfortably. The Sharks’ record was just under .500 for the season, and they lived up to that mediocrity by losing a close one 23-17 to the New York Jets. Martha had left at halftime to work on her own projects when it looked like the Sharks would get blown out. An exciting fourth quarter comeback left them one touchdown short at the end.

After the game, the entire family asked for details about the bachelor auction. That was as close as anyone came to admitting that Clark and Lana had been broken up.

Clark and Lana each shared details from their respective points of view. Clark liked hearing about the heated bidding war between Lana and Candy, though strangely, no dollar amounts were mentioned. Lana especially liked hearing how nervous most of the guys were before strutting their stuff on stage. Clark himself admitted to having been petrified, as he didn’t know who he would end up with.

During his recitation, it suddenly occurred to Clark where some of Lana’s money had to have come from. No one in his family had asked anything about how much money was involved in the bidding for any of the guys, which suggested to him that they already had a pretty good idea.

On the way home, Clark broached the subject when he said, “Lana, I don’t really need to know exactly how much money it took to buy me, I figure that’s something you may want to keep to yourself…though I do hope you’ll tell me one day.”

When she turned to face him, he said, “What I need to know is just how much money my family members gave you. Everyone in that house today, except for me, knew the dollar amounts involved, which means that you told them. The only reason I can think of for you to have told them already would be if they had helped bankroll you in the first place.” Shaking his head, Clark said disgustedly, “Even with my abilities, I always seem to end up costing them.”

Lana was uncomfortable with the idea of telling Clark, but was even more uncomfortable with the keeping secrets from him, so she took a deep breath and told him everything. He was stunned to learn that her war chest had started out with $400 dollars, but that amount was not enough. When she told him that the bidding stopped at $600, he nearly choked.

He had known from her story that she had run out of money and that Elaine had made up the difference, but he had no real idea how much money was involved. After that, she detailed where she got the money from. He wasn’t interested in how much Dean, Pete, or Chloe had donated, only in what he had cost his family.

When Lana told him that each parent had donated fifty bucks, he was pleasantly surprised they had paid so little, but when she told him that Kathy had emptied her piggy bank without a thought and donated it all, he began to tear up and turned the truck around to head back to his parents’ house.

“What’s going on, Clark?” Lana asked.

“You don’t know it yet, but Kathy has a hard time saving money. What she gets, she spends. She has the only purse I know of that’s equipped with a revolving door. I gave her that piggy bank a long time ago in an attempt to get her to save a little bit. She’d put in a few pennies here and a dime there, and when she got enough, she’d go with me to the local branch of our bank and change it for a new $1 bill which would then go straight back into the bank.”

Clark stopped talking as he tried to dry his eyes, but the tears kept flowing. “My parents gave you one-hundred dollars, but they both have high-paying jobs and that much money means very little to them…but Kathy gave you every single cent she had just to help us get back together. My sister would give me anything I need, even if don’t know enough to ask for it.”

When he reached home, Clark jumped out of the truck and rushed inside. He found Kathy in her room playing Frogger on her Game Boy Advance SP. Needless to say, she was bewildered when Clark came into her room and swept her up in a powerful hug. All she knew was he was messing up her game.

Then she saw he had been crying and figured this was a good kind of crying when she saw Lana enter the room. Kathy returned the hug but didn’t know what this was about until Lana picked up the empty piggy bank and showed it to her over Clark’s shoulder. Seeing that, Kathy hugged him back harder and responded to his murmurs of ‘thank you,’ by saying, “It’s no big deal. You give to me all the time, Clark. Every once in a while, you have to be able to take.”

Is it as simple as that? Lana wondered. Could Clark just need to learn how to take once in a while instead of always having to give?

[SVsleuth]

:) Aw... that was so touching what Kathy did for Clark - & how he really was affected by her sacrifice for him and Lana. You brought tears to my eyes. What a sweet relationship Clark & Kathy have. Amazing how she feels so real, this "little sister" character you created, Card.

So cool to have them back to their normal Sunday tradition of dinner & a ball game with the family. I hope they were all right about the BCS game. Clark should be playing his best now that he is happily back together with Lana. (BTW, did the Bulldogs win the Saturday game that Lana watched with his folks? I presume they did, & that's why they were all excited about the promising possibilities.)

Lana's vigil watching Candy move was funny, too. Sitting out there in her lawn chair with popcorn. LOL

[Nemu]

2nd?

that was excellent!!!!

lol an excited Lana is funny....

and that last bit with Kathy was sooo sweet...

PPMS :D

[LetMeGo]

Aww... Card that was great! This story always leaves me with a smile!! :) Can't wait for the next update! PPMS!!

[NYC300Z]

yeah Lana it might just be that simple! Clark needs it knocked in his head lol. Great update Card! Can't wait for another!;)

PPMS!

[deanyouk]

Brilliant....

[superman_lives_on]

Cool! Everything is on a good path now, it seems. Candy's evil efforts were for naught--not only are Clark and Lana together after all, she got kicked out of the sorority! And the scene with Clark and Kathy....awww.

I wonder what happens next?

[MOOman0618]

Originally posted by Cardinal

“When the guys from Two Men and a Truck showed up yesterday morning to take her packed belongings, I was sitting in my lawn chair on the sidewalk out by the street right in front of the tri-Alpha house with a Big Gulp and a giant bag of popcorn.”
[/I]
HAHAHAHA!!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Oh my gosh, I laughed so hard when I read that!

That was an awesome update Card! So sweet with Clark and Kathy! And ofcourse it is awesome to have the family back together again! Can't wait for more!

POST MORE SOON!! :)

[annaliese]

update soon!!!!!

[maitriniazngurl]

Awesom update Card. I'm so execited for happy Clana.. i can't wait for me..

PPMS!!

[clanas1ally]

wow, I have a little sister and im the "big" brother. That story about kathy and her piggybank hit really close to home for me!! Update again soon!!

[maru11]

update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[annaliese]

post more soon!!!!

[tygershot]

Great updates! PPMS!

[maru11]

update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ClanaLover]

15th! ...I think...:p

Awesome update Card!!! PPMASAP!

[clark&lanafan95]

That was a great update !! hope you can update soon!!!

[Cardinal]

Chapter 67 - Halloween

Today is the thirtieth of October, the day before Halloween. Originally named All Hallows’ Eve, Halloween is a day for ‘trick-or-treating’ for children, and serious partying for adults…and those who think they’re adults. Namely, Clark and Pete. Halloween was on a Wednesday this year, making it exactly one week after Candy had been kicked out of the tri-Alpha sorority. That just added to the festive atmosphere as the two roommates finished up plans for their second big party of the year. The guys had asked Lana to lend her artistic talents to decorate their basement and help give it the proper feel.

Lana did not have a large decoration budget, because the guys set aside most of their party funds for refreshments, but it was enough for someone with some imagination and artistic flair. When Pete told Veronica about the need for help with decorations, she offered to pitch in and help Lana.

The first time the two girls had met was when Pete doused Clark and Lana while they were ‘enjoying themselves’ on the couch. Lana had been embarrassed and wet at the time and all she could remember was Veronica’s red hair and her first name. This time, Pete made sure they were properly introduced. Lana was in the basement making preliminary sketches when Pete followed Veronica down the stairs.

Once Lana looked up from the folding table she was sitting at, Pete said, “Veronica, this is Lana Lang.” Lana stood and dusted off her hands as Pete said, “Lana, this is my girlfriend, Veronica Drake.”

The girls each held out a hand and shook firmly. “I’m sorry, Veronica,” Lana said, “I know I met you briefly one time before, but, umm…I was kind of distracted at the time. I’m glad to have finally met Pete’s ‘mystery woman’ under better circumstances.”

“Our first meeting was kind of hurried,” Veronica said with a grin. “Pete and Clark looked like kids playing ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’ around the kitchen table, and Clark’s expression as he lurched up off the couch was priceless, so I suspect my memories of that meeting are a bit more pleasant than yours are, Lana.”

All Lana remembered of that incident was a brief fright when the lights came on followed immediately by cold water. She had then frantically refastened her blouse before peering over the couch to see Clark and Pete horsing around. After that, Lana had gone down to check on her laundry, and after folding the last load, had quickly made her way home.

Once Lana acquainted Veronica with her idea for the decorations, the girls got to work. Lana’s basic idea was to decorate the outside of the basement door, which would once again be the party entrance, like the entrance to a mausoleum. The small piece of grass that was between the door and the small parking lot out back would be decorated with headstones cut from Styrofoam and then painted to look like weathered stone. The four headstones each listed one of the four hosts and hostesses.

“Making my own headstone is kind of creepy,” Veronica said as she carefully stenciled her name onto a blank ‘headstone.’

“Well, at least we aren’t digging graves,” Lana replied.

“Manual labor is what boyfriends are for,” Veronica said archly.

The two girls looked at each other briefly and then broke out in giggles, each glad their guys had not heard that.

The two guys in question came down the stairs a bit later and asked if there was anything they could do to help. Veronica looked at an already snickering Lana and said, “See? Even they agree. Two graves ought to do it, don’t you think?” By now, Lana was laughing so hard that she could not talk. When she nodded her head yes, Veronica turned back to the guys and said, “Yes. You could dig a couple of graves right outside the door.”

Lana’s laughter let the guys know something was up. Clark tilted his head toward Pete without ever taking his eyes off of the girls, and said, “Maybe we don’t really want to know what the girls are doing down here, Pete. I think we need to go to the store and buy the snacks.”

Pete, also keeping his eyes on the girls, said, “I’m right with you.”

After goodbyes were exchanged, Clark and Pete headed to the nearest supermarket to pick up a load of chips, pretzels, and mixed nuts. The beer would wait until tomorrow, the actual day of the party.

On their way to the truck with their cart of supplies, Pete said, “It looks like our girlfriends are getting along pretty well.”

“Yeah, I’m glad. Lana’s so low-key, and Veronica’s a bit more…”

“Energetic? Excitable?” Pete prompted.

“Yeah, those will do. Anyway, they’re not all that similar and I wondered exactly how well they might get along.”

“I wasn’t worried one bit about that being a problem,” Pete said as he opened the tailgate. “What I was worried about was the fact that Lana has no particular fondness for the tri-Alpha sorority right now and that Veronica’s a member.”

Clark settled his load and said, “That’s also true, but what you’re forgetting is that Elaine is also a tri-Alpha and right now Lana thinks Elaine walks on water. Also, Veronica and Elaine are pretty tight, so that association is a definite positive.”

“Huh.” Pete dropped his first load into the pickup bed and said, “You’re right, I hadn’t really thought about that side of it. I was nervous because I really wanted them to be friends since they’ll see each other a lot over here.”

After the groceries were loaded and the netting was hung to keep the bags from sliding, the guys headed home.

“What are you and Veronica dressing up as?” Clark asked.

“Well, that’s a story all by itself. Because of that red hair of hers, Veronica wanted us to dress up as Raggedy Ann and Andy. I said no to that. First of all, with red hair, I’d look like Homey the Clown, and second, I still remember what happened on South Park to Stan Marsh when he dressed up that way. I could do without that kind of humiliation.

“I suggested dressing like Romeo and Juliet, but Veronica reminded me that my costume would involve wearing tights, so that idea was out. Mark Antony and Cleopatra was another idea, but the Cleopatra costume was already reserved for Halloween in Veronica’s size.”

“Finally, we decided on dressing as Bonnie and Clyde. I’ve got the black, pinstriped suit, hat, and shoes with spatz. Veronica has a sequined white flapper dress with matching heels.”

As the guys began carrying their supplies into the townhouse, Pete asked, “What are you and Lana wearing?”

As straight-faced as he could manage, Clark said, “Clothes.”

Pete rolled his eyes and said, “Duh!”

“We’re going as Carmen and Escamillo from the opera Carmen.” Clark shook his head as they set the first bags on the kitchen counter and headed back for more. “Lana gets to wear this sexy Spanish gypsy costume, but you’ll die laughing when you see me in this matador outfit. It’s got more gold brocade than I’ll wear every day for the rest of my life combined…and another thing, the pants look like skin-tight Capri pants for guys.”

As they brought in the last load, Pete asked, “This might be a sensitive question, so feel free to hit me if you think I’ve stepped over the line, but, how are you two paying for these costume rentals? I think Lana was pretty much tapped out financially after buying you at the auction.”

“I won’t comment on the state of Lana’s finances, but we had these costumes set aside and paid for at the end of last month, before we broke up. Lana went down and picked them up right after class today while I was still at practice.”

The girls, meanwhile, had put the finishing touches on the last headstones and were stringing up fake cobwebs in the corners of the basement. They were having a conversation of their own, but clothes had nothing to do with it.

“Lana? I know Elaine has probably said this already, but on behalf of the tri-Alpha sorority, I’d like to apologize to you for what Candy did to you and Clark.”

“Tried to do, Veronica, tried to do.”

Veronica smiled upon hearing the sudden steel in Lana’s voice, and said, “I knew Candy could be mean sometimes, but that tape was so far beyond anything I would have believed her capable of doing.”

“And it almost worked,” Lana said. “That’s what makes me the most angry.” Lana stepped off of the step ladder she was using and turned to face her new friend. “I threw away the best man I’ve ever been with because of that tape and I was almost unable to get him back.”

Veronica studied Lana’s face and saw the naked pain on her face as she remembered what had happened not too long ago. “Can I ask you something, Lana?” Lana nodded yes and Veronica asked, “How did you get Clark back? Elaine told me what she knew about your breakup, but she had been too busy with Candy to keep close tabs on what you were doing to win him back.”

Lana’s smile returned full-force as the good memories of those days came rushing back. “Determination, I guess,” Lana said as she shrugged her shoulders. “Once Elaine let me know I had been tricked, I did everything I could think of to get him back.”

Lana went on to regale Veronica with stories of ambushing Clark all over campus. When she told her about seeing the team off on their trip to Texas and the sign she had been holding, Veronica thought she was going to cry. Lana glossed over Clark’s eruption the next day, but she did tell Veronica about the support she had received from Clark’s whole family.

The story then moved on to her nightly campouts in front of the townhouse. When Veronica heard that, she thought that was the sweetest thing ever.

“When Clark came out to make sure you were comfortable and to refill your thermos, you had to know you were getting to him.”

“I thought so, but Clark is so naturally nice, that I wasn’t sure…but when I woke up in his bed after falling asleep on the walkway in the front yard, I nearly cried. To know after what I said to him, that he still cared for me was just overwhelming. That’s when I knew I would go on as long as necessary to win him back.”

Reliving these memories had Lana on the verge of happy tears. She dabbed the corners of her eyes with a tissue Veronica handed to her and said, “How could I do anything less? He’s my everything.”

[SVsleuth]

:)
He's my everything. That says it all, doesn't it?

It's so cool that Lana and Veronica are becoming friends. I'd expect the two couples to be seeing each other quite often now, so it's great that they hit it off.

So Clark & Pete didn't want to dig their own graves, eh? LOL

PPMS!

[closetfan]

TY for that update....i reallly needed it!!!

:)

[NYC300Z]

very sweet update nice to see Veronica and Lana becoming friends. Can't wait for more!;)

PPMS!

[deanyouk]

Wonderful update :)

[Nemu]

Well that sure was interesting... And I'm happy too about the girls getting along...

Oh I could just picture Lana in her gypsy costume... and woah....

Also Clark in the matador should be a sight too...

I dont have a clear picture of Veronica in my mind so I cant comment on her costume but for Pete... I think the 'gangster' look fit perfectly...

And I agree with SVS... Lana said it all with her last words... He is her everything just as she is his everything...

Good work with that chapter Card...

PPMS :D

[annaliese]

yesssssssssssssss! great update!!!!!
post more soon!! can't wait for the halloween party!!!

[clark&lanafan95]

awsome update post more soon!!!!!!!

[clanas1ally]

Great Great Great

[maru11]

great update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!

[maitriniazngurl]

Wow, I can't believe I missed your last update Card.. It was so awesome.. glad to see Lana is making more friends.. :D

PPMS!! :D

[annaliese]

post more soon!!!

[MOOman0618]

Hey now! How did I miss an update!? Nobody told me!!

Oh well...

Anyway, awesome update. Very cool that Lana and Veronica are friends now. That will make everything easier for Clark and Pete. And the Halloween party sounds like it will be fun...but what is a Halloween party without some mischief? heehee I wonder if there will be some trouble at the party? I guess I will have to wait and see...but hopefully not too long.

POST MORE SOON!!! :)

[superman_lives_on]

Originally posted by MOOman0618
[T]he Halloween party sounds like it will be fun...but what is a Halloween party without some mischief? heehee I wonder if there will be some trouble at the party? I guess I will have to wait and see...but hopefully not too long.

POST MORE SOON!!! :)

Perhaps vampires will be involved? Even if not, I have a sneaking suspicion that some sort of trouble will arise at that party, thereby forcing Clark to switch to "proto-Superman" mode, if you will. (The first time we saw that happen was when that Lars jerk attacked Elaine.)

And I readily agree--PLEASE POST MORE SOON!!! :D :D :D :D

[Iowanmom]

All right, Cardinal,
I just read through Chapter 44. What a wonderful story this is. As these two grow into each other I do as well. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be enjoying this 'ship.' I never thougth I could. Never. And you have successfully allowed me to accept and cherish the role Chloe has in Clark's life, even tho they aren't the lovers. That's quite a feat, Cardinal.

One thing bothered me.... being that I lived in KC, was raised there, my grandparents and there siblings were sent to the United States from Ecuador to be educated at KU.... how in the "H" could you think the Jayhawks would be capable of being so, so, completely slaughtered? Now, come on!!! That's just not so, man!!! Not Cool!! ;) JAYHAWKS all the WAY!!!!!

*steps down off podium*;) :lol: I am so messing with you. *sigh* No, really. :D

This fic has truly made us a part of the couple and you don't find that in many fictions. We simply read and comment. This story can consume us, letting us feel apart of it. Beautifully done, hon.

Lana's hair... in chapter 44. When talking about wanting to be more intimate, isn't her hair in elegant knot of some sort... the same hair that he's sinking his hands into?


...he went back to running one hand through the silky softness of her hair...
I am confused by this. and the only reason why is because like I said, I read so closely, I sink myself into your story and it stopped me. I had to go back and reread. I love your visuals .... the vision of Clark running his hands through that thick mane of hers.... wow... but the sentence stopped me... Sorry, I don't mean to knitpick.

I have read so many of your updates and I've go so much more to read. Forgive me for my absence, Cardinal... I've not been reading much and have just gotten back into the swing of things.

I love the fact that you had Lana talk to Clark about what he has to offer the people of the city. That he's more than a football hero. His destiny lies elsewhere. Truly, opening Clark's eyes to what he can contribute to the world. Beatutiful.

And last but not least... there so much more I could say.... I love that Clark is going to tell her his secret before things become more intimate. That's the way it should have been. And I love that you had Clark stress that Chloe knows everything about him, ever since they were kids. Truly showing the importance Chloe is to his life, the history between the two friends. I thank you for that, hon.

Wonderful chapters and the songs were beautiful. I will say that I do not like songs in fics, unless it is strictly a songfic being written... I find them distracting and I tend to look over the songs all together. However, the way you put yours in, I couldn't help but read them. I didn't have to try and pay attention to the story as I went through the lyrics. I could concentrate on the lyrics completely and I appreciated that. The songs were beautiful.

I hope to catch up soon, Cardinal. I am so excited about this story. Post more soon, but not too soon. :lol: I'd like to catch up eventually. :D

[maru11]

update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please!!!!!!!!!!!

[Iowanmom]

Chapter 46, Cardinal.
Never did I dream a Clana fic would make me cry (without a Chloe death, mind you) but you did it. How absolutely beautiful. I know you've been told this and I won't quote the line, but you got me. Absolutely beautiful chapter.
*reading onward*

[Iowanmom]

The KC Chiefs!!!!!!!!! OMG, you have so made my night. :lol: And you're damn right they'd beat the Sharks!!!!! Oh my gosh, this is great!!!! GO Chiefs!!! Now if you could put the KC Royals in your fic, I'd know I was dreaming.... This freaking rocks Cardinal... I love the KC Royals. :lol:

This almost makes up for the slaughtering the KU Jayhawks... almost. :lol: :rotfl:

And you go and spring this horrible ending to such a delightful night for Lana... I hope when she comes to her senses, she realizes Clark would never do that... or atleast come right out and ask him. I'm hoping her altered state has to do with her immediately assuming Clark would hurt her this way. God, Cardinal. This is terrible...
*off to read*

My God, Cardinal... what the hell? Chapter 50...This is terrible.... What the hell? It's not nice to make your readers Cry!!!!

I dont' know what the heck to say...

[SVsleuth]

Hang in there, Tina. You HAVE to keep reading, at least all the way to Chapter 59...... At least you don't have to wait 4-5 days between chapters like we did. It seemed this was hanging over Clark & Lana for-EVER!

;)

[closetfan]

I love the KC Royals.


im so sorry......:)

but wat do i know..im a cubs fan :)

...and i still love cardnial's fics

[Cardinal]

Originally posted by closetfan
im so sorry......:)

but wat do i know..im a cubs fan :)

...and i still love cardnial's fics

A Cubs fan and a Royals fan both reading my fic. Kind of like the Alpha and Omega of baseball pain right there folks.

The Cubs have the longest streak of not winning the World Series in history (97 years and counting), and the Royals are the current avatars of baseball futility.

I feel your pain!

[Iowanmom]

Originally posted by Cardinal
“I know I told you that this was all about me not forgiving you, and then I told you it was about trust and how I didn’t know if I could trust you any more, but that’s neither one is exactly true. In the very depths of me, the real reason I can’t get back together with you is fear.

“When you dumped me, I learned that, for the first time in my life, my happiness no longer depended on me, it depended on you. That scares me. To know how desperately I need you scares me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet.” Clark took a deep breath and continued, “When I said on Sunday that you were just as special to me as Lori was, well, that was true, as far as it went. I knew her for about a year, and even though I haven’t known you for quite two months yet, I already love you more than I ever did her."

Clark threw his hands in the air and said, “Maybe she left me because she knew I didn’t love her enough, I don’t know and now it’s too late to ask. But never doubt that I love you. I may not have loved you as well as I should have, but there I plead ignorance and inexperience. After I left you on Sunday, I came home and looked up your ‘love list’ on the internet and committed it to memory. My love has failed you in so many ways. I have not been patient when you needed it most, I have not been kind to you since our breakup, and I definitely suffer from my share of pride. Lastly, my love failed in its duty to protect you and your heart.”

Clark finished by saying, “I guess this has been something of a rambling confession, Lana, but it’s the truth. I love you so much it scares me, and I do such a poor job of loving you, that you deserve someone better. I’m so sorry and I wish I had the nerve to say this to you while you are awake.”
I have no words, Cardinal. I sit here just looking at this passage and I have no words. My spirit is screaming at me to take flight and tell you how much these few paragraphs move me, but.... I have no words to give you.

Forgive me... rarely am I moved speechless, but.... I have no words... I simply can't.


Originally posted by Iowanmom
I love the KC Royals.

Originally posted by closetfan
im so sorry......:)
:lol:
I can't help it, I will always have a soft spot for the Kansas City Royals. I was there, sitting on my butt infront of the TV soooooo many years ago, watching them as they won the World Series... I will never forget it as long as I live. Never. :D

[closetfan]

I was there, sitting on my butt infront of the TV soooooo many years ago, watching them as they won the World Series... I will never forget it as long as I live. Never.

i wouldnt know the feeling :(

[Iowanmom]

Originally posted by closetfan
i wouldnt know the feeling :(
:lol: I am so sorry. You may some time... don't ever lose hope. :D


Originally posted by Cardinal
A Cubs fan and a Royals fan both reading my fic. Kind of like the Alpha and Omega of baseball pain right there folks.

The Cubs have the longest streak of not winning the World Series in history (97 years and counting), and the Royals are the current avatars of baseball futility.

I feel your pain!
:lol:
Okay, DO NOT diss the Royals, man!! You're all ready in hot water for the Jayhawks, debacle!!!! You don't want to start with the Royals!!!! They may be down, but they are loved!!!! :D ;)


Originally posted by SVsleuth
Hang in there, Tina. You HAVE to keep reading, at least all the way to Chapter 59...... At least you don't have to wait 4-5 days between chapters like we did. It seemed this was hanging over Clark & Lana for-EVER!

;)
OMG, Stephanie!!! I so want to, but my eyes just won't stay open. :\

Cardinal, having not read this fic in a while, it haunted me. The guilt was heavy on my heart. I may ship Chlark, but what you bring to this Clana ship is beautiful and definitely something I can truly appreciate and feel with the rest of your readers. You have saddended me to a point that I can't communicate how regretful I am for these two souls.

They need each other, Cardinal. I see what the separation is doing to them.... Please, please, please, bring them back together. You may have all ready done so, and I am late to the party, but I needed to tell you how desperately I hope they don't suffer for too long. Please.
I'll read more tomorrow. I love this fic, hon. :)

[maru11]

update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MuchaLana]

Where is the update Card?

It's O.K Cubs fans...they caught a break this year...they are scheduled to play the Tigers...oh wait they are good this year...crap

am also a Cubs fan

[NYC300Z]

yes PPMS!;):cool:

[Cardinal]

Chapter 68 - Beer

There were two major decorations left to finish by the time the guys returned to the basement: the Styrofoam cladding for the basement entrance which would make it look like a stone doorway to a mausoleum, and draping the sides of the folding table the girls were sitting at to make it look like a catafalque. That is where the snacks were going to be laid out in a cheapo pseudo-coffin that Clark was going to slap together out of plywood just before the party.

With them, the guys brought a plastic one-gallon jug of ice-cold milk, four glasses, and a package of shortbread cookies to share with the girls. “You ladies deserve a break,” Clark said.

Pete waved the bag of cookies and said, “And to convince you to spend some of your time with us, we brought cookies.”

The girls just looked at each other, thinking that this was just too sweet.

When the guys pulled up chairs, Pete ripped open the cookie bag while Clark handed out the glasses and filled them with milk. After everyone had made their way through at least one cookie, Clark asked how the decorations were coming along.

Lana chased the last crumbs of her cookie with a swallow of milk and pointed behind her at the four headstones leaning against the wall. Pete shivered when he saw his own. The fake cobwebs were everywhere and looked like something you would see in a house that had been abandoned for years, all thickly coated with dust.

After everyone had eaten their fill of cookies, the girls returned to the decorations, and the guys lugged Pete’s sound equipment downstairs and began setting everything up. Once the speakers were in place, they were festooned with fake cobwebs.

By the time the girls left, everything was ready except for the coffin. The Styrofoam decorations would not be put in place until early evening the next day, just about the time Clark was to make the coffin.

The next day after practice, Clark was ready to head for the liquor store that liked to keep the football team happy when thoughts of beer from the last party entered his mind. Lana had walked him home and was getting ready to head inside and finish the decorations when Clark stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

Lana pivoted in place and asked, “Yes?”

“At the last party Pete and I threw, you brought me several beers…seven if my memory serves me correctly.”

Lana was once again awed by his powers of recall and embarrassed to remember what she had placed inside those beers. Clark realized what she was thinking of when he saw her blush. He pulled her close, kissed her forehead, and said, “That’s old news, Lana.”

She looked up at him and smiled, saying, “I know it is, Clark, but I still feel like a jerk for having done that to you. The fact that you have forgiven me does make the memory a lot less painful, but it doesn’t remove the pain completely.”

He kissed her again, this time right on the lips and said, “We had four different kinds of beer at that party, all cold, all in easy-to-access kegs. What on Earth made you bring Labatt’s Blue to me every…single…time? You didn’t know this at the time, I’m sure, but I hate that stuff. It tastes like unflavored, carbonated water.”

Lana’s face fell at first and then her brow furrowed as she concentrated. Finally, she said, “It was Pete’s idea. He said that was your favorite beer.”

Clark glared at the basement where Pete should, at this very minute, be checking his dance-mix CDs and testing the sound system to make sure it’s ready. Then a thought struck him and his glower turned to a grin. “How’d you like to give Pete some payback? Give him a ‘taste’ of his own medicine?”

With her head tilted to one side, Lana thought for a second and asked simply, “How?”

“Well, I thought we could just do to her what Pete did to you.”

“Lie to Veronica?” Lana’s face was laden with disapproval at the thought of doing that to someone she had just become friends with.

I wish you hadn’t put it like that, Clark thought. He wiped his hand over his face, and ended up grasping his chin. “Okay, Lana, we won’t lie to her. We’ll just have to convince her to help us play a joke on Pete. Do you think you can get her to help? She might have more sympathy for your position in this than mine.”

“I don’t know her very well yet, but she seems to have a fun-loving spirit, so I think I can get her to help when she comes over to help set up the decorations.” Lana checked her watch and said, “That ought to be just about any minute now.”

“Okay.” Clark leaned in for a last kiss and said, “I’ll go get the beer. Hopefully you two will be done with the decorations by the time I get back so I can take you home to dress for the party.”

“We should be,” Lana replied. “The hardest part will be setting those headstones up in such a way that they will stay upright. Double-stick carpet tape will be enough to make the fake stonework for the entrance stick to the aluminum siding.”

This party was supposed to be smaller than the last one, so only three kegs were being ordered. To avoid any chance of getting several glasses of his least favorite beer this time, Clark had overruled Pete and had not ordered any Labatt’s Blue. What Pete did not know was that Clark had ordered a keg of Coors Light to go along with Budweiser, and Miller Genuine Draft.

Coors Light, or ‘The Silver Bullet’ as it is commercially known, just happened to be Pete’s least favorite beer. Clark had always suspected Pete’s involvement with Lana’s choice of beer and had been hoping for a chance to get even. Now all he needed was for Lana to convince Veronica to help.

When Clark came back, he pulled around back and parked in the complex’s small parking lot for the rapid unloading of the ice and beer. Before Clark had finished unloading and installing the bags of ice and the three kegs, Lana had already drawn Veronica aside and talked her into helping them pull off the scam on Pete.

After Clark was informed, all he said was, “I hope she’s an actress. Pete will need to believe she thinks she’s doing him a favor.”

Lana just rolled her eyes, tilted her head toward the basement and said, “Veronica’s already dressed for the party. Have you seen the dress she’s got on?” When Clark shook his head ‘no,’ Lana said, “Trust me. When she goes up to Pete with a wiggle in her walk, the absolute last thing that boy is going to think about, if he thinks at all, is why she’s bringing him a beer.”

Once his work was finally done, including taking a few minutes to put a makeshift coffin together, Clark spent some time admiring the hard work that Lana and Veronica had put into decorating the basement. He paid particular attention to the entrance since he had not seen any of it in place until now.

Lana was all self-deprecation and charm until Clark told her, point-blank, to cut it out. “You don’t have to break your arm patting yourself on the back, but it’s okay to know you are talented and admit it. You two did a wonderful job and I thank you for it.”

Clark leaned down and gave her a warm kiss. When he pulled back, Lana looked up with an impish grin and said, “I think we did better than that.” That brought Clark back down for a longer, more passionate kiss. “Better,” Lana said as they caught their breath, “much better!”

“What about Veronica?” Clark asked innocently. “Don’t I have to thank her, too?”

Lana grabbed him by the arm and began dragging him to his truck. “Nothin’ doin’, Bub!” she said with a smile. “Thanking her is Pete’s job.”

It was time for Lana to head home and dress for the party. Since she walked over with Clark after practice, Clark drove her home. On the way, Clark said, “Lana, just call me when you are ready to come back. I’ll pick you up and be your designated driver so you can enjoy the party worry free.”

“Thank you, Clark, but I’ll drive myself.”

“It’s no trouble for me, Lana. I like doing things for you.”

Lana patted him on the arm and said, “I know you do, Clark, and I like doing things for you, too. But this is not a case of me trying to avoid being a burden. I don‘t need a ride, because I‘m not going to be drinking.”

“Why not?” Clark chanced a quick glance at Lana and saw she was staring straight ahead. “I know you’re not a big drinker, but you’re not going to have anything at all?”

“I know it sounds a bit weird, but let me explain.” Clark patted her knee for reassurance and she said, “The night I dumped you, I had been out drinking with the girls on my 21st birthday. I came home pleasantly buzzed and found a birthday package on the floor just inside my door. We both know what happened after that. Especially the alcohol-fueled tirade on your front step.

“After Elaine let me know that I had been setup, and I tried to makeup with you, I came home rather upset…with you, but mostly with me. After Elaine and Chloe left, I was still on edge and thought maybe a small drink would calm my nerves a bit.” Clark looked surprised to hear that Lana had wanted to use booze as a mental anesthetic.

She saw that, replied with a shrug, and said, “Well, it seems to work for Aunt Nell. Anyway, when I saw the remaining bottles of liquor in my kitchen, and I realized what alcohol had just cost me, I lost it. I grabbed every single bottle of alcohol I could find and threw them in the trash, then I took the trash can and dragged it down to the parking lot where I took great pleasure in hurling each and every bottle against the back wall of the green steel dumpster.”

Lana finally looked up at Clark and said softly, “I haven’t had a drink since, except for our date. Drinking, just to drink, is out for me right now. I may have a glass or two of wine with a nice dinner, but that is all. I don’t like not having full control over my actions.” Lana paused a bit and said, “That’s not to say that alcohol was what caused my hasty reaction to that video, but it was a factor.”

They reached Lana’s parking lot and Clark started to get out to walk her to her door. Lana stopped him with a hand on his forearm and said, “Stay here for a bit. I have something else to add.”

Clark rocked back into place, his eyes locked on Lana’s as she summoned her courage. “I think the primary cause of how I reacted to that tape was insecurity. You’re handsome, sweet, fun to be with, smart, and the star of the football team. You work hard at your studies, you respect your parents, you have a sister you adore, and you treat me like a princess. You could have just about any woman on campus and yet, you chose me. You don’t seem to realize this, but you get ‘eyes’ made at you by a lot of women on campus as you walk by. I knew how many girls would like to be in my shoes and, back then, I didn’t know how I could keep you.”

Lana was ashamed of what she was saying, and she broke eye contact with Clark. Her eyes were beginning to tear up. Clark reached out and lifted her chin until their eyes locked once more. “I love you, Lana. I love you. You’re the only woman for me.”

Lana’s smile broke through and she said, “I know that now, but I wasn’t so sure then. Seeing that tape only reinforced my fears about keeping you and it also supported my feelings of inadequacy.”

Clark was flabbergasted by this confession. He had no idea how to respond, and stalled for time to think by asking, “What brought on this revelation?”

Lana thought Clark looked dazed, like he had been poleaxed or something. That increased her smile and she said, “Since we got back together, I’ve been thinking and I realized that you have been much more open with me than I have with you, especially when it comes to emotions. I decided to open up to you, to stop holding things back. I want you to know me as well as I know you.”

Clark had no response other than to reach across and pull Lana into a warm hug. She buried her face into his chest and he gently rubbed her back. “I, too, want me to know you.” Clark held her for a short while longer and then said, “Full disclosure can be painful, can’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s hard to pull back the curtain and let someone see the real me, warts and all.”

[superman_lives_on]

Originally posted by Cardinal
“Full disclosure can be painful, can’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s hard to pull back the curtain and let someone see the real me, warts and all.”

Oh, I wouldn't say "warts"--more like "quirks" or "foibles". The term "warts" and Lana Lang do NOT go together. Same with Clark Kent.

Great update, though there were a couple of instances where you switched to present tense and shouldn't have had to.

Update again soon. I'm still expecting some sort of danger to arise at the party--danger that only You-Know-Who (and I don't mean Voldemort! :D) can put a stop to.

[SVsleuth]

2nd? :eek:

Another wonderful chapter, Card. Lana's confession was a nice touch, showing the deepening of their relationship - being wiling to take risks by sharing faults & insecurities.

Can't wait to see Pete get a taste of his own medicine - um, or rather, Coors light... ;)

PPMS!

[Man of Steels45x]

Yeah so far the story sounds pretty good. I'm waiting for what you have to come.

[deanyouk]

just dont let them get drunk and sleep with another person....

And dont let lana crash her car....

and any other evil plans u may have... dont do it :P

ppms

[Iowanmom]

You have such an amazing story here and I love it. I'm glad Clark and Lana were able to work through their differences. I do wish for Clark to see the tape, it would vindicate Lana a bit... But we'll see. Like I said, before, beautiful story, Cardinal.

[maitriniazngurl]

Yeah, I agree with Dean... lots of things can happen when beer is involved...

That was a great update!! PPMS!!

[Cardinal]

Originally posted by superman_lives_on
Oh, I wouldn't say "warts"--more like "quirks" or "foibles". The term "warts" and Lana Lang do NOT go together. Same with Clark Kent.

Clark wouldn't say warts when referring to Lana, but she would say that referring to herself.

[NYC300Z]

NO I don't agree lol other than that it was an awesome update!;)

PPMS!

[maru11]

awesome update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[closetfan]

lol...thats probably the best titled chapter ive seen

cant wait for the party

[itsallinthespelling]

just got back from beach week to see some more awesome updates. can't wait to see pete's reaction when his girlfriend the silver bullet, ppms

[clark&lanafan95]

Great update ppms!!!!!!!!!!

[tygershot]

Fantastic update Card!(Like always) Keep em comin!

[maru11]

awesome update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MOOman0618]

Man, I'm getting slow!

Completely missed this super update!

But it was super...as always. The party seems to be gearing up nicely and I can't wait for Pete to get his just reward!

Also awesome that Lana is really opening up to Clark. I didnt they could get any closer than they already were, but there you go.

Post more soon!! :)

[maru11]

update soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cardinal]

Chapter 69 - Carmen and Escamillo

This party was not invitation only, but Clark and Pete hoped to hold down the size of the crowd by requiring costumes. Also, they had not advertised this party nearly as much as they had the first one. The party was supposed to start at nine and by eight-thirty, Clark was putting on his black and gold matador costume.

Being indoors, he decided to forego the traditional hat, but he was wearing the rest of the costume. It started with a crisp white shirt and black tie. Over that was the low-cut vest, black and brocaded with gold. The jacket that went over the top of the vest was also black with gold brocade. The brocade was so thick on the sides of the sleeves, and on the pauldrons which covered the shoulders, as to make the black fabric seem to disappear. The only brocade on the pants was on the sides, but it was just as thick there as it was on the sleeves of the jacket. The pants ended just below the knee and were a very close fit. Extending below the pants were white silk stockings that disappeared into low-cut black leather shoes. Finally ready to head downstairs, Clark picked up the short dress cape, which was designed to be worn on one shoulder, and put it on.

He stopped for a look in the bathroom mirror and shook his head in disbelief. They call a matador costume ‘the Suit of Lights,’ and I can see why, Clark thought. Pete could hang me from the ceiling and use me as a disco ball.

Lana’s costume was easy to put on, consisting as it did of a simple white peasant blouse, and a multi-layered, multi-colored, and multi-patterned floor-length skirt. She topped it off with a black shawl to wrap around her shoulders, or her waist, depending on circumstances. The hard part for her was her hair. It had to be curled and then pulled up at the top of the back of her head with a Spanish comb before being allowed to tumble down. With the current length of her hair, it was just able to reach the tops of her shoulders.

She parked on the street and walked to the door just as Clark was making his way downstairs. She knocked once and, as she was expected, came on in. Clark’s eyes were drawn to the door by her knock, and thus he saw her first.

“Ay caramba!” Clark said under his breath. Oh my, breathtaking is an overused word these days, but it definitely applies here. The funny thing is, except for the somewhat deep neckline of her blouse, she’s completely covered.

Lana spotted Clark as soon as she stepped inside and shut the door. It would have been hard not to notice him with the outfit he was wearing even if she had not been looking for him. She had seen him try on various parts of the costume in the shop, but had not seen the entire costume on at once.

The effect was astounding. Lana clapped her hands happily and, as Clark reached the bottom of the stairs, she motioned for him to pivot so she could see the whole suit. Clark obliged her, and an involuntary gasp escaped her mouth as she saw the tight fit of the pants on Clark’s legs and, most spectacularly, his buns. Seeing his calves in silk stockings was nothing to complain about either.

Clark was amused to play fashion model for her and so he hammed it up. All Lana could think was, I’m glad the jeans he normally wears are loose fitting or else he would be getting molested every time he walked across campus.

“You look great, Clark. Very dashing and very sexy.”

Clark blushed slightly at the mention of the word sexy, then chuckled a bit and said, “No one will notice me, because I’m going to be standing next to you. You’ll make all the other senoritas jealous.” Clark gestured for Lana to turn for him and thought, I can already tell I’m going to have to fight off the wolves tonight.

Lana performed a quick spin, which made her skirt float just a bit. When she came to a stop, she held her hands aloft and asked, “You like?”

Clark made a show of slowly eyeing her up and down and said, “Usted es la mujer más hermosa del mundo.”

Lana thought the way Clark had rolled his Rs was cute, but since she had taken French in high school, and not Spanish, she was not sure what he had just said. When she looked at Clark with confusion on her face, he repeated himself in English and said, “You are the most beautiful woman in the world.”

Lana blushed, and dipped into a graceful curtsey. She did know enough Spanish to say, “Gracias, Señor.” Clark bowed deeply in return.

Taking a last look around the first floor to assure himself that the valuables had been locked away upstairs, Clark then stepped behind Lana as they headed for the basement. The first guests should be arriving at any minute.

When they reached the basement, Clark saw what Lana had meant when she talked about Veronica’s dress. It was a white flapper dress with silver-colored fringe, but what made it remarkable was the way it showed off Veronica’s assets. Clark made sure to give her an old fashioned leer just to tease Lana, but she knew better. She shrugged it off, and said, “As if!”

Clark agreed, saying, “You know me too well.” After another few seconds of study, Clark whispered, “Still, it does look like she’s hosting the Cleavagepalooza World Tour inside that dress.”

Lana snickered quietly and said, “From what she told me earlier, she’s afraid to take a deep breath. The rental dress that fit her chest properly fit the rest of her like a circus tent, so she had to go with the tight fit on the boobs to get a dress that fit the rest of her properly.”

“Still,” Clark said, as he steered Lana toward the refreshment table, “knowing what I know about Veronica, she likes showing off a little bit, so that dress might have been her first choice anyway.”

The brief discussion of Veronica’s boobs had one lasting side-effect. It had gotten Lana thinking about her own boobs and how inadequate she had always felt they were. She looked forlornly down at the scooped neckline of her blouse, the décolletage as the French would say, and wondered if Clark wished she had more to show off.

Wanting to make use of her newfound openness with Clark before the guests arrived, she spun around and asked shyly, “Clark, what do you think of my boobs?” When Clark paused in a state of pure shock, she added, “Are they big enough for you?”

Clark recovered quickly, looked directly at Lana’s blouse, and said, “Those breasts are yours and that makes them perfect.” Returning his gaze to her eyes, Clark asked, “What brought this up? Have I ever indicated that you are inadequate in any way?”

“Noooooooooo,” Lana said in a small voice, “but seeing Veronica, I couldn’t help but compare myself to her, and I know how much most guys like big boobs, so I was just wondering.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m not like most guys.” Lana smiled at this which made Clark smile in turn. “Besides, anything more than a handful is a waste.”

Lana’s eyes popped open and a giggle escaped her lips. “How do you know that?”

“I don’t…but I hope to find out soon.”

Raising herself on her toes, Lana said, “Me too!” and leaned in for a kiss. What Clark had thought would be a simple kiss quickly turned passionate as each one tried to show the other just how much they each wanted to ‘find out.’

After they broke the kiss, Lana slumped against Clark’s chest and he wrapped his arms around her and said, “You steal my breath each time we kiss.”

“Same here. I don’t break our deep kisses until I have to have some air.”

Pete slipped his first dance-mix CD into the sound system and pressed play. After checking the bowls in the refreshment coffin, Clark leaned against the wall in a far corner to await the first guests, Lana turned to face the ‘mausoleum’ entrance and leaned her back against Clark’s chest and waited with him. Clark casually wrapped his arms around Lana’s abdomen and interlaced his fingers, while his thumbs twiddled around each other. Lana’s hands raised up and idly began sliding back and forth over Clark’s forearms, feeling both his muscular curves and the texture of the brocaded fabric.

Clark pulled Lana more tightly against him as he watched Veronica and Pete flirt back and forth from opposite sides of the stereo equipment. It works better if you’re both on the same side, Clark thought. Without conscious thought, Clark’s hands rose to Lana’s sternum and began to lightly trace her ribs out to her sides, where his fingers rose to the next pair of ribs and traced back to meet again at her sternum. This back and forth pattern continued until Clark’s wandering fingers came up against the bottom edge of Lana’s strapless bra.

That brought his thoughts into focus and he realized exactly what he had been doing. Lana’s eyes were closed and her breathing was deep and regular as she was really enjoying his attentions.

“Don’t stop now,” she moaned softly, “not when we’re just getting to the good part!”

Clark trailed his fingers along the bottom edge of her bra as he said quietly, “If I go any higher than this, we will both learn exactly how much I like your boobs…and it won’t happen here in the basement in front of an audience either. Instead, I’ll carry you in my arms, like something out of Gone With the Wind, and race upstairs to my bedroom, where we will end up missing all of the costume party.”

“Mmm…sounds good to me,” Lana purred under her breath. “We would be a shoo-in for the Best Costume prize, though. No one else would think to come to the party dressed, or undressed, as the case may be, as Adam and Eve.”

“That’s true,” Clark said. “Except that we’re not eligible for the prize.”

“Which is? Ohhhhh!”

Lana forgot all about the prize as Clark’s fingers skipped over the soft mounds of flesh in question and started to trace the upper edge of her bra. Lana was enjoying the sensations enough that she was standing on her tip-toes in an attempt at pushing her breasts into his dexterous hands. He has the touch of a surgeon or a concert pianist, Lana thought, not a football player.

Lana knew, in the lust-shrouded recesses of her mind, that she wanted their first time to be special, but she knew if Clark gave in and paid attention to her chest the way he had been paying attention to her ribs, she was going to give herself to it fully and their first time would end up being tonight, special evening or not.

Before Clark’s own lust-addled thoughts could take that step, the first guests of the evening cautiously stepped through the doorway. The room was fairly dark, and before he could determine who they were, much less who they were dressed as, he heard Chloe’s voice saying, “Hey you guys! No sex before the party…”

That voice cut through Clark and Lana’s sexual fog like a foghorn through the mist. They straightened up quickly, both sure that Chloe had been talking to them. That was not the case. She was looking at Pete and Veronica, each of which was looking anywhere but at her. They both breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Chloe had not seen them yet. As Lana made to walk over and greet Chloe and her escort, who had to be Jonesy, Clark held on tight and said, “Not…yet!”

“What? Why?”

In a voice pitched to carry no farther that Lana’s ears, Clark said, “Because. If you walk away from me right now, it will be evident to anyone within viewing distance that we were doing something over here.”

“How?”

In answer, Clark pulled her body into his as closely as he could.

He did not have to say anything. Lana’s gasp and giggle were enough for him to know she had figured out his problem. “Oh my,” she said, “you do have a rather large problem, don’t you? Or are you stuffing your shorts?”

“Nope. That’s all me.”

“I think I’ve created a monster!” Lana giggled.

Clark’s own smile was widening as he said, “No, it was always there, you just woke it up, and in these tight pants, there’s no where to hide it. My problem is getting it back to sleep before Chloe notices. She would never allow me to live this down.”

Lana reached back to pat his arm and said, “Don’t worry, Clark. No one gets to see the equipment but me. I’ll keep you covered.”

He leaned down and kissed her right below her ear and said, “Thanks, Lana.”

[treker]

1





The brief discussion of Veronica’s boobs had one lasting side-effect. It had gotten Lana thinking about her own boobs and how inadequate she had always felt they were. She looked forlornly down at the scooped neckline of her blouse, the décolletage as the French would say, and wondered if Clark wished she had more to show off.

Wanting to make use of her newfound openness with Clark before the guests arrived, she spun around and asked shyly, “Clark, what do you think of my boobs?” When Clark paused in a state of pure shock, she added, “Are they big enough for you?”

[/B]


Oh my god....if my girlfriend asked me that I think I would have choked.....nice one card.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Originally posted by Cardinal
Before Clark’s own lust-addled thoughts could take that step, the first guests of the evening cautiously stepped through the doorway. The room was fairly dark, and before he could determine who they were, much less who they were dressed as, he heard Chloe’s voice saying, “Hey you guys! No sex before the party…”

]


Leave it to chloe to spoil our fun....

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Originally posted by Cardinal
[size=6]?”

In answer, Clark pulled her body into his as closely as he could.

He did not have to say anything. Lana’s gasp and giggle were enough for him to know she had figured out his problem. “Oh my,” she said, “you do have a rather [I]large problem, don’t you? Or are you stuffing your shorts?”

“Nope. That’s all me.”

“I think I’ve created a monster!” Lana giggled.

Clark’s own smile was widening as he said, “No, it was always there, you just woke it up, and in these tight pants, there’s no where to hide it. My problem is getting it back to sleep before Chloe notices. She would never allow me to live this down.”

Lana reached back to pat his arm and said, “Don’t worry, Clark. No one gets to see the equipment but me. I’ll keep you covered.”

He leaned down and kissed her right below her ear and said, “Thanks, Lana.”


HMMMMM....is lana going to help Clark with his problem????

America must know!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was fantastic Card....by far your funniest chapter to date....keep it coming. I love it.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[closetfan]

OMG THAT WAS GREAT....I LAUGH MY A$$ OFF


He did not have to say anything. Lana’s gasp and giggle were enough for him to know she had figured out his problem. “Oh my,” she said, “you do have a rather large problem, don’t you? Or are you stuffing your shorts?”

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

oh my, its 1:30 am, and i think i woke up my family, HI-LAR-IOUS

cant wait till next update


btw card...hubba hubba indeed...lov that pic

[deanyouk]

haha

I think I've created a moster...

great update!!!

[superman_lives_on]

:lol: I think those two got a little carried away! :lol: Leave it to Chloe to interrupt them...

Update soon! I'm still anticipating what else will happen at the party--perhaps danger will arise. (Scary thought...)

[LovinMe210]

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAH FANTASTIC UPDATE!!! OMG

[clark&lanafan95]

hahaha!!!! Really Great Update ppms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SVsleuth]

Hi, Card, I'm back.

:eek: Wow! :eek: What an update!

PPMS!

[maitriniazngurl]

Whoa, that was soooo WOW!!
I don't think I have the nerves to ask my boyfriend the Boob question. ahh.. it was just wonderful.

Can't wait for more. :D PPMS!!

[NYC300Z]

Very funny very good update! It was fun to read! Now on with the party!;)

PPMS!

[maru11]

awesome update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it was very funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cardinal]

Chapter 70 - Revenge x2, Red, and Lead

Lana’s shielding and the thought of getting caught by Chloe was all the help that Clark needed. By the time Chloe and Jonesy found Clark and Lana in the back corner of the room, Clark was able to face them with a hint of blush staining his cheeks as the only indication that something was not kosher, and in this darkened room, even Chloe was not going to notice the blush.

Clark and Lana’s first close-up looks at Chloe and Jonesy almost made them laugh. Chloe was wearing her hair in pigtails and had gone overboard on the makeup, wearing bright red lipstick and noticeable amounts of other cosmetics. Her outfit was a short-sleeved white blouse that was unbuttoned to her cleavage and tied off just above her belly button like a homemade halter top. Below her waist, she was wearing a red-plaid, pleated mini-skirt, knee-high white socks, and saddle shoes. Her costume was completed by a small, gold-plated class ring on her ring finger.

Jonesy was wearing a battered trucker hat, a South Park t-shirt that said, ‘Respect mah authoritah!’, and a low-riding pair of blue jeans which showed a large expanse of his boxer shorts. His face was covered with a stubbly beard.

Lana was first to figure out who they were dressed as, and then she did start laughing. “Oh my God,” she said, “it’s Britney Spears and Kevin Federline!”

“You look totally hot in that outfit, Chloe!” Clark said enthusiastically. “Glad to see you breaking in a new style.”

“Thanks, Clark,” Chloe said uncertainly.

Lana shot Clark a look that said ‘what the heck?’ and then said, “That outfit looks great, Chloe, but isn’t that a bit showy?”

“Normally, yes,” Chloe said, as she examined Clark’s matador outfit, “but since it’s Halloween, it‘s okay. It’s like they said in Mean Girls, Halloween is the one time of year that a girl can dress like a total slut and get away with it…at least, I think that’s the right movie.”

As the four college students headed to the beer kegs, Clark was feeling frisky again, and inexplicably so, since only minutes earlier, he had been trying to stifle his hormonal urges. This friskiness found an outlet. Clark was walking with an arm looped around Lana’s back, and he let his arm slide down until his hand was on her bottom and then he gave her a firm squeeze. Lana jumped and just about slapped him.

What’s up with him all of a sudden? Lana wondered. First, he eyes Chloe like she’s a gallon of water and he’s dying of thirst, and then he doesn’t just goose me, he fondles one entire side of my butt.

As Lana turned to Clark to ask, pointedly, for an explanation, the foursome reached the beer where they saw Veronica topping off a plastic cup of Coors Light. She winked at Clark and Lana and then headed over to Pete. Clark and Lana shushed Chloe and Jonesy and the four of them watched as Veronica handed Pete the first of, hopefully, many beers.

Pete smiled and accepted the cup after stepping away from his electronics. Clark and Lana were hanging on Pete’s every move by now, and he did not disappoint them. The basement was already warm from the electronics and Pete was thirsty. He tipped his head back and began to chug the ice-cold beer.

Veronica had strategically stepped to one side, which proved to be a wise choice when Pete spewed a mouthful of beer all over one wall. Veronica grabbed some napkins from the refreshment coffin and made a big production out of helping Pete clean up.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you like the beer?” Veronica asked and then bit her lip. “I got that especially for you.”

Not wanting to disappoint his girlfriend, Pete placated her by saying, “Oh no, the beer was fine. I just drank too fast and got some down the wrong pipe.”

“In that case,” Veronica said, as she grabbed the mostly empty cup out of Pete’s hand, “let me get you another one.” She was gone before he could make even a whisper of a protest. Once she returned to him with a fresh Coors Light, Pete went searching for the head of the grandly named ‘Liquid Refreshment Acquisition Committee.’ That, of course, was Clark.

Once he found his roommate, he pulled him toward a corner of the room. As they reached the corner, Clark felt a bit dazed and wondered about what had just happened. Did I really tell Chloe she looked ‘totally hot?’ And as for Lana, I need to apologize for manhandling her like that.

Pete noticed nothing unusual and asked heatedly, “Why the heck do we have Coors Light tonight?”

Playing like he did not know that Pete had set him up at the last party, Clark said, “Because I don’t want to spend another evening choking down an untold number of cups of Labatt’s Blue.” Clark looked around to make sure Lana was nowhere near him before continuing. Pete, believing that his part in that problem with the beer had gone undetected, was eating this up. “At the last party, Lana just kept bringing the stuff to me time after time. She looked so pleased to be doing something nice for me, that I couldn’t bear to tell her she was choosing the wrong beer.”

“Yeah,” Pete said, “I know exactly what you mean.” Looking quizzically at Clark, Pete asked, “What can I do?”

“Nothing that I know of, Pete…unless you want to risk offending Veronica, in which case, all we’ll have to do is move the refreshments out of the coffin and we’ll be all set for your funeral.”

“She wouldn’t get mad at me for correcting her, would she?”

“Oh nooooooo,” Clark said, in a voice heavily laden with sarcasm. “What woman has ever gotten mad over a little thing like that?”

“Oh man! I’m screwed!” Pete said morosely.

Clark eyed Pete’s gangster costume and said, “That’s a nice suit, Pete, but I think you should have come dressed as a werewolf instead.”

Pulled out of his funk by this curious statement, Pete tilted his head to one side and asked, “What makes you say that?”

Clark grinned widely and said, “Easy, Coors Light is ‘the Silver Bullet,’ and everyone knows that the only thing that can kill a werewolf is a silver bullet.”

“That’s not funny, Man. That’s really not funny.” Pete’s protest would have been somewhat more effective if he had not been laughing while he was talking.

When they moved to rejoin their guests, Lana had filled Chloe and Jonesy in on the scam and several more guests had arrived. Having Lana and Veronica to help host this party would make enjoying the party a little bit easier for Clark and Pete. Well, it would make it easier for Clark anyway. Clark guessed Pete was going to be spending some of his free time ducking Veronica and her beer deliveries.

The next delivery was going to be impossible to avoid since Veronica was waiting for Pete with a foamy cup of Coors Light when they broke up their confab. Pete thanked Veronica and took a judiciously-sized sip. Clark went to the kegs and grabbed a Budweiser for himself. After filling in Chloe and Jonesy, Lana had gone over to welcome the newcomers and Chloe and Jonesy had taken advantage of the empty dance floor and were moving to the sounds of Pete’s latest dance mix.

The party itself was a success. Clark made sure he had plenty of time on the dance floor with Lana, including once again dancing to “Iris.” He had made sure Pete included that song on one of his disks.

As for Pete, he enjoyed dancing with his nubile girlfriend, but he also had to suffer through seven cups of Coors Light. He would have nursed the second beer for as long as possible, but the heat in the crowded basement and the exertion of dancing made him thirsty and anytime he tried to get a beer for himself, Veronica would not hear of it. She absolutely insisted on serving him herself.

When he drained the seventh cup, Veronica asked if he would like more. The party was winding down and seven beers over that length of time was not enough to get Pete drunk, but he had downed all of the Coors Light he could handle. “No, thank you,” Pete said. “I’ve really had enough.”

“Are you sure?” Veronica asked innocently. “Since you’ve had seven Coors Lights already, Clark and Lana said it would be all right if I let you have a Budweiser or Miller Genuine Draft now.” Pete looked up to see Clark and Lana standing arm-in-arm next to the beer station. They were both giving him a thumbs-up sign and they had matching circus-clown grins on their faces.

Pete looked from them back to Veronica who had finally lost her composure and was laughing so hard that she was crying. He realized he had been had. He really wanted to be mad at Veronica, but her laughing convulsions were making her chest jiggle in an interesting manner and by the time her laughter was under control, his momentary anger had passed.

“I’m sorry, Pete, but Lana told me about the dirty trick you pulled at the last party you guys threw and she asked me to help ‘get you back.’” She batted her lashes at him, looked into his brown eyes with hers, and asked, “Forgive me?”

Pete pulled her in close for a snuggle and said, “Of course.”

At that very moment, Clark chose to let loose with a wolf howl. Pete responded by holding out a fist and shaking it at his roommate. He then emphasized his point by extending his middle finger and shaking that a time or two. Clark started laughing and filled Lana in on the joke.

When the roommates got together minutes later, Pete half-heartedly punched Clark on the arm and Clark smiled back at him. “Hey, Pete,” Clark said, “do you know how beer and revenge are similar?”

“No, how?”

Clark wrapped an arm around Pete and said, “Both are best served cold.” Clark held on tightly until his hearing picked up the sound of Lana sneaking up behind them. “Speaking of cold, Lana has something for you.”

Lana moved right behind Pete and whispered in his ear, “Hi, Pete.”

Pete struggled to see over his shoulder, but Clark held on to him so tightly that he could not move. “Uhh…hi, Lana.”

Quick as a wink, Lana deftly lifted the back of Pete’s suit jacket, pulled back on the waistband of his suit pants and underwear, and dumped an entire cup of ice in his shorts. Pete howled and made a beeline for the stairs. The first floor bathroom was occupied, so he had to rush up to the second floor to alleviate his distress.

When he returned to the basement, still wearing the suit coat and shirt, but having replaced the pants with black sweats, the last guests had left, leaving Chloe and Jonesy along with the party’s four hosts.

The only fly in the ointment for Clark all evening long had been, surprisingly, Chloe. Most of his dancing had been with Lana, but they had avoided dancing to anything that might lead to bumping and grinding because they knew what that would lead toward. So when one hot song came along, Chloe grabbed Clark and pulled him out onto the floor to dance.

Dancing with Chloe, Clark found himself having erotic thoughts about his long-time buddy. He had always known she was beautiful, but he had never thought of her in a sexual way before. By the time the song was up, Clark’s hormones were fully engaged, but as soon as Chloe stepped away and rejoined Jonesy, Clark’s hormones melted away and he was ashamed of, and confused by, what he had been feeling only seconds before.

Where did that come from? Clark wondered. I’ve never felt that way about Chloe before and now I’ve got Lana. What’s wrong with me?

Those feelings shook Clark and it took him some time to figure out that they only occurred when he was within arms reach of Chloe. He then explained to Lana what had been going on. After that, he kept his distance from Chloe and had Lana ask her to stay after the party for a brief chat. So when Pete came back to the basement after ‘defrosting’ his privates, Lana was busy asking Chloe for five minutes of her time in private conversation with her and Clark.

Veronica, Pete, and Jonesy watched TV in the living room while Clark headed for his bedroom. Lana has been instructed to give him a head start and then come up with Chloe. When the two girls came through the bedroom door, Clark’s hormones let loose again, but the feeling was not limited to Chloe. God help him, he wanted both girls, at the same time!

A little more experimentation confirmed that the effect was centered on Chloe and then Lana began asking her what she was wearing that Clark might not have ever been exposed to before. Lana thought it might be some kind of pheromone-based perfume acting upon Clark’s unique physiology, but Chloe claimed her perfume was something Clark had smelled many times.

It was not until they got to the class ring on Chloe’s finger, that Chloe remembered exactly what kind of stone was in the setting. It was a red meteor rock. That was all they needed to know. Lana wore the ring to test it and they confirmed that the ring was causing Clark’s sudden urges.

One thing puzzled Chloe though. “Clark, that ring has been sitting in a box on my dresser since my sophomore year in high school. You’ve been in my bedroom many times and have never once tried to throw me on the bed and jump my bones. Why?”

Clark scratched his head and said, “Beats me. I didn’t even know about the green meteor rocks until this school year…maybe the box was able to shield me from the stone‘s effects.”

“What was the box made of?” Lana asked.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Chloe said. “it’s a lead box that my dad brought home from Luthor Corp one day. He said they used to use it to house radioactive objects.”

Clark rubbed his chin and said, “Lead, huh? That’s something worth knowing. Thanks, Chloe.”

[NYC300Z]

1st! Awesome update! That was so interesting with the red K and then the way they got Pete was just funny!;)

PPMS!

[SVsleuth]

Ah, so the red K shows up at last! Thankfully they were able to solve the mystery before it caused any trouble to their relationships. And it's great that they now know the benefit of lead to shield Clark from the effects of meteor rocks.

Pete had it coming with the beer - I'm glad Veronica was willing to play along with the prank.

PPMS, Card!

[treker]

well, shouldn't lana be wearing that class ring all the time? that way there can be lot's of but cheek action. :) :D

Great update Card....awww poor pete....7 glasses of coors light and then ice down the pants......that's teach him.

ppms...

[closetfan]

lol poor pete indeed :)

[maru11]

great update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[superman_lives_on]

Well, this was the sort of trouble I NEVER saw coming! Red Kryptonite finally rears its ugly head...but fortunately, our heroes are more on the ball than they were in the show, so no harm done.

And the revenge against Pete...VERY cool! :D :lol:

PPMS!

[clark&lanafan95]

Great update ppms!!!!!!!!!!!

[deanyouk]

that was great

[maitriniazngurl]

Too funny :lol: At least they got there payback.. but It was kinda harsh.. Hehe. :D

Awesome update Card, can't wait for more!!

[Dr. Jeckyll]

Haha, awesome update Card! It was incredibelly funny - as always. Loved how Clark got even with Pete. It's fun to see them all together as friends (Clark, Lana, Pete, Veronica, Chloe & Jonesy). Keep 'em coming! PPMS!

[SpeedyKate91]

Great Update!!! PPMS!!!!!

[MOOman0618]

Oh man!! Those last two updates were awesome!!! Sorry it took me so long to comment. I was laughing sooo hard through all of it!! And Pete definitely got his commupance!!

Now what will they do with this new knowledge of Red-K? hmmm


POST MORE SOON!!

[smallvillewolf17]

I love this story! Don't ever stop posting.

Or I will stab you with Green Kryptonite. LOL.

[mysteryman1]

Update soon.