AND PUPPY DOG TALES......

It was just after seven when Clark finally made it back to the apartment. He was tired, but feeling upbeat. The rescue of the stricken cruise liner, which had - at least until Superman's arrival on the scene - been floundering helplessly in the middle of the Indian Ocean, had taken him four hours to complete, but it had turned out well. The passengers had been safely transferred to the nearest tropical island resort and the ship transported to dry dock in its home port in Hong Kong, awaiting refit and repair.

Superman had amiably brushed off friendly gratitude and congratulations alike before taking off on a wide sweeping checkout patrol of the rest of the area surrounding the epicenter of the freak tidal wave. The unexpected underwater seismic activity which had produced it had taken most of the local recording stations by surprise and there had been little chance to put emergency procedures into effect. Thankfully, however, it seemed that the Diamond Empress had been the only casualty. Much of the area affected was unpopulated and, by and large, the bow-wave had lost much of its kinetic energy by the time it reached those parts which weren't. Its resultant loss of power and ferocity had morphed it from the raging swell which had flipped the liner over like a child's bath toy to nothing more lethal than a wilder than average surf which delighted rather than terrorized the tourist beach population. Clark, knowing it could all have been much worse, whistled cheerfully under his breath as he kicked the front door closed behind him with a deft foot. He shuffled through the mix of bills and circulars which had been waiting for him on the floor of the lobby and then dropped them absently to the small side table beside the sofa for future consideration. His keys followed. He glanced toward the kitchen, surprised that there were no enticing culinary scents wafting his way. The Jeep had been tidily parked outside, so he was sure Lois was home.

"Lois?"

A quick scan showed the kitchen to be empty. He switched frequencies briefly to note that none of the appliances had been kicking out heat any time recently. On the plus side, there was also no evidence of the kitchen being site ground zero on a culinary disaster. On the whole, he'd much rather face take-out for the third time in a week than a depressed and suicidal wife.

He confessed to being permanently confused as to where Lois got this idea that the surefire route to being a successful wife and, presumably, mother was a degree in Pot Roasts 101. Or why she was continually so resistant to believing him when he told her it didn't matter in the slightest to *him* that they'd had to replace six smoke alarms in as many weeks, had been marked down as 'high risk' by the local fire station, and were on first name terms with most of its firefighters by this point.

Nope, eating take-out didn't bother him at all. He loved take-out. His only - slight - concern was that it wasn't the healthiest of diets for someone without the super-powers to burn out the cholesterol and high fat content.

Clark smiled. But then, Lois frequently claimed that, since they'd been married, she got energetic enough 'work-outs' once a day - at least - to burn off any creeping excess calories faster than any *week* spent in the gym. He chuckled. She was probably right too. His Little Tornado sure was a powerhouse of energy in the bedroom. He'd joked only last week, after a particularly lengthy and intense bout of love-making when it had taken him hours to successfully wear her out, that if they could only figure out a way to hook her up to Metropolis Light & Power's mainline each night they'd have solved a major shortfall in sustainable consumer power growth well into the next century.

The thought, and the memory, caused a reflexive twitch of interest deep in his groin. He grinned and lifted his head, his search taking on a slight urgency now, and picked up his wife's steady heartbeat from overhead in another moment. He jogged up the stairs and into their bedroom, where he found Lois sitting on the edge of their bed, looking lost. To Clark's surprise the room was almost entirely in darkness, as though the fading light and slow crawl to dusk had snuck up on her unnoticed. The TV was on and the blaring, frenetic screams and explosions, decapitations and monstrous atrocities of your typical, generic kid's cartoon show blasted out of its speakers.

Lois didn't appear to be watching the unfolding mayhem though. The remote rested limply in the hands tucked loosely into her lap as she stared, blank and unseeing, at the screen. At some point she'd obviously been in the middle of changing out of the maroon business suit she'd worn to the office that day, but had paused somewhere along the way with the task uncompleted. The dress skirt and jacket lay draped across the mattress beside her. The cream blouse she'd worn beneath was unbuttoned, half shrouding tempting glimpses of the matching white lace bra and panties she still wore and even more enticing hints of shadowed skin. Sitting there like that, she might have walked straight out of a lingerie commercial, Clark thought, as he got lost in appreciating the long, shapely curves of her bare legs for a moment. That and the way the narrow inward curves of her waist accentuated the swell of her hips and the flat plane of her belly. How the lacy half cups of her bra pushed her breasts upward into delightfully full curves and......

He dragged his attention back with a not inconsiderable effort to her face. "Lois?" he said, taking off his jacket and dumping it on the couch against the wall.

"Honey?"

He pulled at the knot in his tie, loosening and removing it as he walked toward her and tossed it carelessly across the end-frame of the bed as he started on unbuttoning his shirt and kicked off his shoes. He could, of course, have changed out of his suit and into casual, lounging around for the evening jeans and sweatshirt in a matter of seconds. Or into even less clothing than that. One spin would do it. But he knew that Lois loved to watch him undress - about as much as he enjoyed watching her do the same - and he wasn't adverse to a little advertising to tempt her into an early evening romp amongst the sheets.

Already thinking about how that might go if he succeeded in heating her mood to match his, his smile faded as he got his first real look at her. "Sweetheart, what's the matter?" he said, stopping in his tracks as he saw that she'd been crying. And, from the evidence of the tear tracks glistening on her cheeks, crying for some time too.

He dropped to the bed beside her, anxious now, and leant over to take one of those limp hands in his. Her fingers were chilled against his skin. She'd been sitting here, alone in the dark, for some time. He pulled the remote gently from her lax and unprotesting fingers and absently zapped the TV into abrupt silence, before laying the remote aside on the nearby cabinet.

Lois started, turning as though just that moment realizing that he was there, as his touch brought her out of the deep, miserable reverie in which she was submerged.

"Oh, Clark!" she wailed, throwing herself into his arms. Bewildered, he gathered her reflexively to him, fighting down sudden panic at this response to his arrival. What could have upset her like this? She'd been fine when he'd left the office earlier. Bright and bubbly, teasing him wickedly with what she'd have waiting for him when he got home, waving him off with the gleam of an irrepressible imp in her eyes and a flash of that smile she saved solely for him.

He put up a hand to stroke soothingly at her hair as she sobbed against his shoulder. "Honey, what's wrong?" he asked again, worried now.

"Oh, Clark......it was......it was *awful*......" the words emerged, broken and muffled, from the depths of fresh tears and from where her face was burrowed tight against the side of his neck. "Y-you were getting so......so late and I was t-trying to find s-some international news and......"

Clark felt a tight kick against his chest as his heart clenched in automatic guilt. She'd been worried something had happened to him and something she'd seen on the news channels had made her think --- but Superman hadn't been doing anything dangerous or worthy of concern during the past few hours. The rescue had been routine, just like his patrol, a piece of cake, nothing that would make her think he was in trouble. What could she have seen to make her think ---

It didn't matter. Not right now. Whatever she had seen it had upset her and badly and she was hurting. Questions could wait. He cradled her tighter against him, drawing her closer with a sympathetic murmur. He rubbed one hand slowly across her back in comforting circles as she hitched out more tears against his skin in pitiful little gasps for breath.

"Ssshhh, hey, it's okay," he whispered. "It's okay. I'm fine. I'm here. Nothing happened. Everything's gonna be just fine, sweetheart......"

She stirred against his shoulder as that first storm of weeping passed, pushing herself clear of him. He let her go, putting up a hand to cup at her cheek. His thumb brushed away the last of her tears, his eyes dark with concern and regret as they studied hers. She frowned.

"Clark -- "

He shook his head as he brought up his free hand to frame her face in a lightly steadying grip and in another moment found himself lost in the depths of her velvet-dark eyes. His lips pressed themselves gently to hers, his kiss soft and reassuring; an affirmation that he was there, that he was safe, that nothing had come between them. That nothing ever could.

Lois had brought up her hands to cover his, but she closed her eyes, the convulsive tightening of her fingers against his relaxing as she stilled in his grasp, drowning in the sweet, liquid promise of his lips as they moved, warm and questing, against her own. He shifted slightly, pulling back the barest inch, his eyes searching hers.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Whatever scared you, I didn't know they'd -- "

She tried to shake her head against the light pressure holding her in place. "Clark, I - " But he was already reclaiming her lips and she gave up the hasty words as they melted into a sigh.

That shuddering breath flooded warmly into his mouth as her lips parted beneath the faint, insistent pressure of his own. His tongue entangled itself with hers, and, in an instant of flaring heat, what had been intended as nothing more than a reassuring caress ignited all at once into a rushing pulse of desire and passion.

Lost in the dizzying swirl of sensations which were flooding through her, Lois barely felt her slow fall backward on to the bed as her husband's weight shifted against her, bearing her back steadily to the mattress. Clark heard her moan as he followed her down, his probing tongue slipping into the warm depths of her mouth, searching out all its familiar crevices and corners. She closed her teeth gently over the tip of his tongue, raking its surface lightly before he tugged free.

His lips roamed her face, mopping up the last of the tears laying cold on her cheeks, relishing the salt taste as he bathed her with open-mouthed kisses, warming her dampened skin. Kisses which graduated to following the line of her jaw and then progressed to tracing the rising, rapid beat of her pulse beneath the silken sheath of skin at her throat.

"Oh, baby, I missed you," he murmured against the soft, sweet smelling skin in the dip of her shoulder.

Lois closed her eyes, feeling herself dissolve into the warm cocoon of his embrace. She molded herself to the strong, familiar lines of his body with a soft moan, clinging to his shoulders as though afraid she'd be lost without that anchor. Her breath quickened, heartbeat galloping in her breast as she gave herself over to the unadulterated pleasure of letting him enjoy her with his mouth and hands. Hands which had begun to wander carelessly over the curves of her hips and thighs as he murmured words against her ear which meant nothing and everything all at the same time. His hands slid further, up along the smooth muscle of her legs and beneath the sides of her panties to cup at her lace-encased bottom where they squeezed gently at the malleable, warm flesh fitted into his large palms.

A low shiver ran through her, coursing down her spine and tingling its way along her extremities as his tongue suddenly found better things to do than whisper sweet caresses against her skin. He set to exploring the sensitive skin behind her ear, tongue skimming over the whorls and folds of its inner shell. Lois whimpered, a fragile whisper of sound in the growing darkness of the room and Clark raised his head to look down on her.

In the fading light his eyes glittered with a sudden, hot need. His hands withdrew, fingers rising to trace the delicate wing of her brow and he lifted himself from her slightly to enable him to place feather-light kisses against her eyelids as her eyes fluttered closed. A tremor of breath trembled against his cheek and he smiled, trailing that gentle, sweet caress down to the tip of her nose. When he reached her lips he changed tack, taking the thick pad of her lower lip between his own and sucking delicately.

This careful, cautious pleasuring of her body was infuriating and tantalizing, frustrating and incredibly erotic, all at once. Lois moved restlessly beneath him and panted softly against his mouth as he bit down into her lip before letting it slip from his grip. He soothed the faint marks of his teeth against the slick flesh with tiny strokes of his tongue.

Lois' restive movements against him became more heated.

"Love me, Clark......" she whispered, pushing the length of her body up against his, arching her back with a small gasp as she felt the rough, delicious scratch of the clothing between them rub across her nipples.

His eyes continued to rest on her face, noting the new flush of high color at her cheeks and the sheen of hazed desire that shone in her dark eyes and his expression grew tender as he covered her obediently with the hard, muscular length of his body. He remained slightly aloft, just close enough that they brushed together in the lightest of touches. He let his hands glide across the full curves of her shrouded breasts and onto her hips, watching their movements intently and then raised his head to kiss her again as he spread apart her blouse, the cream cotton whispering against her skin as he drew it aside.

Lois lay tense and still beneath him, a sweetly unbearable tension gathering in the pit of her stomach. It followed the trail his fingers took as they brushed her skin. Her breath came harsher and more rapid, anticipation clenched in her like a fist as his hands rested briefly at her waist and then slid a warm path upward. He pushed the lacy half cups of her bra with them as they curved up over the firm, heavy globes of her breasts and across her risen nipples in a lightly stroking caress. When she was bared completely to his touch and to the hot appreciation of his glittering gaze, a small flick of his fingers snapped the front catch of the bra open. His hands moved higher to spread it clear of her skin as he had her blouse before it.

Lois bit back a small cry as he moved lower again, skimming delicately, barely a touch at all, across the taut, aching tips of her breasts before following their rounded curves. After a moment, pausing in their exploration, they retraced their course, his palms rolling her nipples, steadily increasing pressure and pace as they circled against her skin, until her back arched reflexively upward, her body begging him, more eager than words, for more.

His dark head lowered, covering her, his hair tickling unbearably as he poised his lips the barest fraction of an inch above the rosy peaks. The cascade of his hot breath flooding over their sensitized tips sent a soft shudder rolling through the body tensing beneath his own. Clark smiled and then breathed out softly again, alternating fire with ice as he blew hot then cold against her trembling flesh.

Lois groaned, a deep gathering sound of mingled pleasure and frustration. Her hands clutched at his shoulders, pressing him deeper against her and she cried out fiercely, bucking against him involuntarily as his teeth closed over one hardened nub, tugging and nibbling at its throbbing heart. Wild, electric pulses of heat flowed through her all at once to pool wetly between her thighs. Her mouth stretched wide on gasp after gasp, desperately gulping at air as pleasure spiraled up from the throbbing core of her desire and pulsed through every inch of her like a molten tide, turning her blood to fire. Her hands fluttered mindlessly against his hair, moving to knead restlessly against the rock-hard muscles of his shoulders and upper back as he continued to pleasure first one breast then the other with mouth and hands, loving her with all the gentle power to arouse her he possessed. Offering her reassurance and comfort in the best way he knew how.

Her hands pushed fitfully at his shirt, easing it down his upper arms and back from his shoulders. Clark raised his head, helping her with it and losing it somewhere amongst the rumpled covers of the bed before his hands returned to cradle her face between them, feeling the points at which she connected with him as he sought her mouth in a quiet caress. His pleasure heightened with the removal of that barrier between them, enjoying the warm heat of skin touching skin as his nipples brushed gently against hers, eliciting another soft moan from the woman in his arms. Her nails raked at his skin as she writhed under him.

Her lips parted invitingly beneath his and he explored her with slow, lazy strokes of his tongue. They connected again, the soft swell of her breasts pressed against his chest, their tight, ripened buds prodding at his nipples delightfully, sending little whorls and spirals of heat down into a pool of tension in his lower belly. He ignored it with super-human, single-minded will. This pleasuring was for her, her needs all that mattered to him, his own of no importance. She needed to know that he was with her, that he always would be, and he knew no better way to show her that truth than to love her with every inch of body, heart and soul that he could find in himself. His own pleasure could wait.

He dropped his hands to her shoulders, tugging at her blouse until he managed to strip it from her completely. He tossed it carelessly to the darkness behind him, sending her bra to join it a moment later. He laid her gently back to the bed where she lay shivering fitfully, her eyes deep and luminous in the dim light of the room. She wasn't cold. Heat radiated from her like a living aura, drawing him irresistibly as he moved to cover her. She shifted, opening herself to him, enticing him to lay between the lure of her thighs, her hands reaching pleadingly for him.

Clark surrendered eagerly to that invitation. His hand rested against the back of one thigh and stroked its way firmly along the taut flesh, pulling her leg upward as he reached the back of her knee. Lois moaned, echoing his own small sounds of satisfaction as she rubbed the arch of her foot provocatively against the leg of his pants and the hard muscle beneath and his hand continued to slide back and forth from knee to hip, gently and relentlessly stoking the fires burning in her.

He let himself drift lower until his weight was fully on her and his kiss deepened as he felt a new urgency in his groin. His growing hardness was becoming less easy to ignore as the throbbing bulge between his legs pressed and rubbed against her pubis and the swollen, tender nub, still unsatisfied and craving, at the juncture of her thighs. He was harder for her than he'd ever been, his need a raging storm of fire. He rocked his hips, letting the hardening ridge grind back and forth against the thick, moist mat of curls and the heated cleft that beckoned him so insistently, and swallowed her excited moans as she began to move with him in eager anticipation.

With a deep, masculine groan of frustration he knew that he had to do something fast to help her find her way to completion, if he was going to resist the temptation to let his own desire overtake them. The electric feel of her body moving against his, the sounds of her soft, breathy little cries of excitement and passion were driving him insane.

He slid one hand in a slow glide between their bodies, pausing briefly to stroke across her breast and pluck teasingly at a nipple before sliding firmly along her belly, feeling the taut contraction of her muscles beneath his fingers and her breathless murmurs of impatience as she eagerly awaited his touch on the part of her that most desired it.

Clark didn't keep her waiting, couldn't keep her waiting, for the sake of his own sanity as much as hers. He plunged his fingers down beneath the waistband of the lace panties, through her tangled curls and into her moist, inviting folds. He rolled onto his side, pulling her onto his lap, and slipped his free arm around her waist, supporting her firmly with one hand braced against the soft swell of her bottom as she squirmed against his thrusting fingers. She arched in his hands, a low tremor shuddering through her and he began to suckle once more at her breast, enjoying her to the full as his fingers increased the intensity and pressure of his pleasuring of her deepest, most intimate core.

Lois threw back her head, muscles bunching tight, her tendons tightening like wire as her mouth stretched wide on a soundless cry of rapture. Her husband's hands and mouth bathed her in fire, his embrace enveloping her in tender heat. She bucked again and again against his touch, crying out wordless invocations as her voice rose higher to a final shattering resolution. Inner muscles clenched tight around the fingers invading her so sweetly and then she fell limp into the arms holding her. Dimly, she heard his low voice murmuring reassuringly against her cheek as he rocked her quietly through the lingering echoes of ecstasy that rippled through her again and again.

Clark felt her orgasm flood over his stroking fingers and thrust them deeply into her depths one last time, ensuring she was fully over the edge, before he withdrew gently and reached to enfold her into his tight embrace. He held her through the aftershocks of pleasure, nuzzling softly at her hair and cheek as his fingers stirred lightly amongst the damp, moist curls between her thighs, stroking soothing circles against her tender flesh.

She stirred finally and he lowered his head to take quiet possession of her lips when she would have spoken.

"Ssshhh," he admonished gently. The tip of one finger replaced his lips, enforcing the command as he added, "Rest."

He settled her more firmly against his chest and let himself relax back against the bed-frame behind him. Lois let loose a low breath, content to lay snuggled securely in his arms, the gentle, loving motions of his hands as they stroked her and the feathering brush of his lips against her hair and face lulling her into a drowsy, warm haze.

It was some considerable time later when Clark finally said softly into the darkness of the room, "I hate them."

Lois' eyes popped wide. The statement was startling enough, but the bitter, angry tone with which it had been stated sat ill at ease with the gentle-hearted, even-tempered husband she knew. She had only ever known him to publicly proclaim his hate for one person and, Lord knew there he had ample cause. Yet still, the fact that he hated at all sat uneasily in him and had caused him more grief than she suspected she knew or he'd ever let her see. For a moment she was still, puzzling over his words, then she lifted her head from his shoulder to look into his face. "Who?"

He shook his head, avoiding her eyes as he buried his face against the damp strands of her hair and quietly inhaled the soothing scents of her before he muttered, "Those newscasters. The cable stations. LNN. Why can't they leave things alone? They're always hyping up what I do, scaring people. The amount of times I've come home to find Mom in tears over something they've said and none of its been true......and now you -- "

Her cheek resting against his, her hands reflexively stroking through his hair, Lois' expression had gradually descended into confusion as he spoke. Now, her eyes widened and she struggled out of his tender embrace, startling him slightly with the sudden motion.

"No," she said hastily, slipping to her knees beside him to look at him earnestly. "No, Clark, what upset me - it had nothing to do with them. Or you."

He frowned. "What?"

Lois looked slightly disconcerted now. She pushed a quick hand through her hair as she settled back against her heels and bit down on her lip, chewing fitfully at its lower corner.

Clark, watching these signs of growing embarrassment, hitched himself to lean against his elbows, curious now. "You said you were watching the news. That you'd been wondering what I was up to - "

"Oh." Lois said. There was a moment's pause and then she cleared her throat. "Well, yes. But I never got there."

"You never......got where?" Clark said carefully. He had the feeling that, somewhere along the line, he was losing track of this conversation.

"To the news." Lois sighed. "The thing was......well, I was surfing through, looking for a news report, some clue to where you were, what was taking so long and......"

Her eyes shifted away from the growing enquiry in his eyes to fix on a spot just shy of his left shoulder. She addressed the muted tones of the wallpaper as she continued, hesitantly, "......and I found this kid's channel. There was one of those ch-charity programs on......" her voice began to thicken again, her throat growing tight around renewing tears as her eyes filled.

"You know the kind I mean...where...where they rescue all the animals...and they were in this dark house......and there were all these......these *adorable* little puppies that had just been *left* there! Abandoned! I mean how can people do that! It's --- " Her voice had grown stronger, Clark noted, with her growing indignation, her tears lessening as he listened, confused again, to this rambling account. But it dissolved again in another instant as she shifted to look at him briefly before her eyes darted away again and she finished on a choked cry, "And......oh, Clark! All the puppies *died*!"

"What?"

"All of them! They brought their little bodies out in little plastic cartons and they looked so *small* and helpless and --- "

"The puppies......died," Clark murmured, sounding bemused. "*That's* what upset you? Honey," he breathed, relieved. "Is *that* al......uh, I mean that......that's terrible," he amended hastily as she glanced up at him quickly with wounded eyes. Eyes that were still brimming with threatening tears. Wide and luminous. He felt his heart twist in his chest in automatic response to her distress, no matter it's cause. He hated to see her cry. It made him feel sick inside.

"I know. You think I'm dumb. Don't you?"

"Honey," he chided, reaching up to brush the knuckles of his hand against her cheek. "I *don't* think you're dumb," he assured her, shifting slightly to face her and taking her hands gently into his own as he laid them in her lap. He squeezed her fingers with a faint smile. "You are *not* dumb." He freed one hand and used it to cradle her jaw, stroking a soft thumb across her skin. "You *are* very beautiful," he offered, leaning forward to touch his lips to hers.

Lois sighed. "And dumb," she insisted mournfully.

He shook his head. "The woman I fell in love with is *never* dumb."

She lifted her eyes to his and gave him a look which said she wasn't going to be jogged out of this one by bland assurances. No matter how sweet.

"You fell in love with Lois Lane. Remember? Hard headed, hard bitten newspaper reporter? Go-getter. High-flyer. Kerth Award winner. The pitbull? 'Mad Dog'......? Is this ringing any bells here?"

He chuckled, clearly unprepared to buy into her self-castigating, miserable mood, and leant over to drop a mild, irreverent kiss against the tip of her nose. "Sweetheart, the pitbull's only *part* of the Lois Lane I fell in love with. And, sure she's a pretty exciting part," He smiled. "A part I'd miss like crazy if she wasn't around. But she's not the only reason I did. She's not the reason I still do and always will."

She frowned. "She's not?"

"Uh-uh." He reached up a hand to push a few tangled strands of hair behind her ear, his smile growing soft as he did. "The Lois Lane *I* fell in love with is the one who let me inside all that. The one who loved *me* enough to show me that soft, gooey little marshmallowy part buried inside her. The Lois that uses up two boxes of tissues every time she watches AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER or BRIEF ENCOUNTER -- "

"Do not," Lois sniffed a half-hearted protest, wiping a hand across one eye as the tears gathering there threatened to spill over all at once.

"Do too," he whispered, taking the hand and bringing it to his mouth to kiss lightly at her knuckles. "And cries over dead puppies," he finished. "It's the whole package, Lois. *Every* part of you. All your moods. That's what I love to bits."

Lois sniffed again. "Really?"

"Really." He grinned, pulling her back against his chest as he encircled her with his arms, entwining his fingers in hers and settling them against her ribs. He planted a kiss against the side of her neck.

After a moment, as he thought it over, suddenly struck by the incongruity of it all, his grin became a soft chuckle and then a full throated burst of helpless laughter.

Lois stiffened against his chest. "What?" she said, sounding suspicious and offended all at once. She hit the palm of her hand against his shoulder. "Clark, it *wasn't* funny! Those poor little puppies - "

He shook his head, tightening his grip as she tried to pull away from him, her expression growing annoyed. "I'm not laughing about the puppies, honey. I swear," he added as she looked unconvinced, her lower lip jutting ominously as her face set in a scowl. "It's just......well, there I was thinking that you were worried about me and all the time it was......" the words dissolved as he was overcome with more of those deep chuckles.

This time she succeeded in pulling clear of him, twisting to face him as she sat back on her heels to view him coldly. She folded her arms.

Clark put out a protesting hand. "Aw, come on, Lois, you have to admit it's pretty - "

"Funny?"

He sobered. "Well - not funny. Not exactly, but - "

"Amusing?"

"Ironic."

Lois sniffed sharply.

Clark sighed. "Lois - " he stopped, face clouding over and then he said, "Wait a minute, it's Thursday."

Lois looked at him impatiently. "So?"

"Well, that show you're talking about, the animal rescue thing, that's not on Channel Nine on a Thursday. They only broadcast that Mondays and Fridays."

Lois frowned. "Clark - "

"No, really. You couldn't have been watching that, because - " he paused again and then his face lightened. "Karmine's Krazy Krackers!" he blurted.

"What?" Lois was getting tired of this now, impatience flashing in her eyes.

"Karmine's Krazy Krackers. It's a show they broadcast on a Thursday afternoon. It does......" he stopped and a grin spread itself across his face, his eyes growing a sharp twinkle as he finished, "They do spoofs of well known shows."

"Spoofs?" Lois mulled that over for a moment, confused and then she straightened, spine stiffening, eyes flashing fire at him as she unfolded her arms and balled sharp fists at her hips. Clark couldn't help but widen his grin recklessly as he watched her. She looked so ridiculous, spitting fire and fury and sitting there completely naked, apart from those cute, skimpy little lace panties. Ridiculous, adorable......absolutely breath-taking. The amusement in his eyes darkened into warm appreciation as he took note of what her outburst and sudden heavy breathing were doing to the naked curves of her breasts.

"Spoofs!" Lois spat furiously, distracting him before he could give in to the sudden impulse to reach out and trace the rosy tip of one of those taut, quivering globes with a long finger. "Are you telling me that those were - "

"Stunt puppies?" Clark suggested blandly, lips twitching as he looked away from the temptation and up into her face.

"Oh, cute, Kent. That's real cute!" Lois raged. "That......that's *sick*!"

"I agree. That show's been banned in at least seven countries overseas that I know of."

Lois groaned and flopped back against the pillows beside him. She laid a hand over her eyes, a soft flush of heat marking her cheeks now. "Oh, gawd, what an idiot."

"Lois," Clark shifted onto one elbow and leant over her soothingly. His hand laid itself against the smooth skin of her stomach, stroking slow comfort back and forth. "You're not an idiot. You know, those shows are top quality. Even if they are sick. No one could tell they weren't real if they didn't know what they were watching. That's the whole point. They want to fool people into thinking it's the real thing."

Lois lifted her hand and looked up at him grimly. "I'm not dumb. I'm not an idiot. What am I then?"

His grin widened. "You're my wife. And I love you," he said, placing a kiss against her temple.

Lois sighed. "Pretend puppies," she said morosely, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

Clark smiled. His hand shifted to lay just beneath the curve of her breast, easing its way across her ribs. He lowered his head, trailing small, distracting kisses across that curve and then moving upward to tease at her softening nipple with the lapping tip of his tongue.

Lois sighed again. Slightly less discontented than a moment previously.

"Still......" she murmured after a moment, as she placed a light hand against the silk of his hair and encouraged him with lazy strokes of her fingers through its thick waves. "All things considered, maybe I should cry more often." She stretched languorously, arching slightly beneath his exploring hands as they found their way to her other breast and the rounded curve of her hip. Her deep, brown eyes were suddenly dreamy. "It certainly......ooooh......does have its own......oh, honey......own rewards......"

Clark lifted his head and rolled to settle himself against her, his hand shifting from its soft stroking at her hip to grip her waist and tug her hard against his side. "Sweetheart, trust me," he murmured, stretching to bury his face against the hollow of her shoulder and string sweet, light kisses along her neck. "You don't ever have to cry to get my attention."

Lois let her head fall to one side, closing her eyes as she savored the trail of soft caresses against her skin. "Mmmmmmmm." She grinned. "Or bid......"

He raised his head again, frowning. "Huh?" and then, remembering all at once, a memory which brought on another soft smile, "Oh. Yeah, or bid."

He went back to his interrupted task, shifting to draw the lobe of her ear into his mouth and sucking at it lightly. "All you really have to do is breathe......" he added after a moment as he let go and began paying attention to the ear's inner shell, letting his tongue dart into its depths. His hands tightened around her waist, thumbs stroking over the bones of her hips in small circles.

Lois shivered, melting into his arms as she sighed. "Oh, Clark......" She felt the prickle of tears at her eyes as she savored the simple beauty of that, reveling in the way he always found just the right words to express his love and --

"Anyway, I was pretty keen to get home to you as it was," Clark went on, oblivious to the effect his words were having on her as she began to reward him with soft, sweet caresses of her lips against the line of his jaw. "You've been driving me crazy all day."

Lois smiled against his skin. "I have?" She kissed the hook of his jaw and then drew back slightly to place another at the corner of his lips.

"Mmmm-hmmm." Her movement had brought her lips in close against his. He closed the distance between them, his hand shifting up along the curve of her spine and up to spread itself against the nape of her neck, holding her firm as his mouth explored hers restlessly. "Sometimes......I think......you do it......on purpose," he murmured, punctuating the words with darting strokes of his tongue against her lips.

Lois frowned slightly. "Do what?" she breathed against his mouth. His tongue traced the slick bow of her upper lip. "Well, you know......teasing. Making me hot."

"Teasing!" She pulled herself slightly clear of him to give him a mock insulted look. "I do *not* tease!"

"Yeah, right." He tried to pull her back, but she resisted, putting a hand against his shoulder for emphasis.

"Okay...... Like what?"

He paused, letting her go and settling himself against her stomach familiarly on casually folded arms as he took time to consider.

"Well......you crossed your legs six times while you were sitting at your desk." He pressed his lips against the patch of skin between her breasts. "You know, when you do that, in that skirt......it has the cutest way of just hitching up a little bit more and -- "

Actually, she did know that. It was primarily the reason it stayed at the front of her wardrobe and was high on her list of favorite things to wear. But, that wasn't the point. She set a lone finger in the middle of his shoulder, pushing back slightly and stopping his questing lips in their tracks. "And how would you know? If I'm sitting at my desk?" she asked pointedly.

<Ooops. "Ah. Well......"

"Exactly. And that's it? I crossed my legs. Completely unaware that anyone was using super vision they weren't supposed to, I might add."

"Well, no. There was all that breathing too, like I said."

Lois' frown turned puzzled. "Breathing?"

"Yeah, you know......in and out......in and out......" He held his hand, straight-edged, on a level edge with her eyes, where it glided gently back and forth to illustrate the words. "Drives me nuts."

"My breathing......"

"Sure!" He put his fingers to the side of her throat and then followed their path with seeming fascination as they drifted downwards, along her sternum, to trace the outside curve of one breast and rest at her waist. He dipped his head to place a soft kiss against the drowsy peak of the nearest. "Things......move." He looked back up. "When you breathe, I mean."

Lois was trying hard not to smile now. And losing the battle. "Oh, I see," she said, in her best mock 'I'm about to be offended, so you better wrap this up quick, if you know what's good for you' tone.

Clark shrugged and let his finger go exploring again, pressing lightly against the tight little nub his lips had just caressed and drawing the tip in a lazy circle around the rosy aureole surrounding her nipple.

Lois stifled a small sound of appreciation and said, slightly huskily, "Anything else?"

"You went for coffee sixteen times. You know, you have this little sway to your walk......and when you're going upstairs......" he held in a wondering little sigh and then continued, seemingly making a serious effort to answer her question to the fullest. "And then there was the stretching. You stretched four times. And, you know, I'm not talking about some half-hearted stretch here. I mean the real thing. The whole 'fingers reaching for the sky' ball of wax. And that makes -- "

Lois was grinning widely now. "Things move? Clark Kent - " she said firmly, entwining her arms around his neck, "you're babbling. Now quit it - and kiss me!"

He grinned down at her. "Yes, ma'am." He happily obliged her.

Her hands played against the smoothly flexing muscles of his back and shoulders as he crushed her lightly beneath him. His fingers explored her as their kiss turned fierce, grazing their way across her thighs, her hips, the outer curves of her breasts, and then reached down to grasp her knees and tug.

Lois squeaked as she was dragged inexorably toward him along the comforter, pulled up tight against him as he knelt between her thighs. She laughed delightedly and aided him as she wrapped her legs around his lower back. He slid the hands supporting her up along the length of her legs to cup at her bottom, his fingers flexing and clenching against the smooth mounds of flesh as he grinned down at her.

"What're you looking so pleased about, farmboy?" his wife demanded, somewhat breathlessly as she raised a slow brow in response to that smug look.

"Oh, nothing. I just reckon you owe me, that's all. And I'm looking forward to collecting."

"Owe you?" She struggled up onto her elbows. "For what!"

"For all that teasing - and," he paused, grin turning wolfish. "For confusing me into making love to you."

"For - " she spluttered and he chuckled, leaning forward to nuzzle at the shadowed valley between her breasts, pushing her onto her back again. He rotated his hips slightly, grinding the reminder that he was still unsatisfied against the damp patch of lace between them. His grin widened as she squirmed, a small, breathless gasp escaping her.

"Right?" he enquired, a hoarse, guttural demand more than a question as he burrowed his way closer against her skin.

"Oh......yes......" Lois breathed out in a throaty purr and he laughed, moving his head slightly to lap at her nipples in rotation with the darting, teasing tip of his tongue. "......please......"

She wriggled beneath him and he paused, sensing a purpose to her wild squirming, rather than just a response to his pleasuring. She put her hands against his shoulders and pushed, panting harshly. Clark surrendered to that pressure, letting himself flop bonelessly to the mattress and watching with interest, moving his large body to accommodate her as she shuffled her way in between his legs.

"*I'm* the one paying this debt, remember?" she panted, quickly straddling his thighs and trapping them between the firm muscles of her own. Her fingers busied themselves in the zipper of his pants, her expression fierce and intent as she worked it loose with quick tugs of her fingers. Its jolting rasp downward sent a quiver of fire through his swollen length and he bucked reflexively against her hands, a deep groan issuing from way down hard in his throat.

He dropped his head back against the pillows behind him. He closed his eyes, his hands fisting into the comforter as Lois worked pants and briefs down his thighs with small grunts of effort and then abandoned them around his knees, in favor of exploring much more satisfying ways of occupying her hands.

Clark kicked them free of him the rest of the way and over the edge of the bed to the floor, and cried out roughly as he felt his wife's cool fingers stroke across his pulsing, throbbing shaft. He moaned, her touch searing him, branding him in fire. He had been hard for her for so long, trying to ignore the painful throbbing between his legs as he'd concentrated on soothing and pleasing her. All of that suppressed need and wanting suddenly flared in him like a blazing beacon, calling to him like a siren song, as Lois tightened her grip around his straining, impatient arousal. She slid her hands up and down his length, alternating the pace of her strokes with teasing squeezes of her fingers, her hands massaging heat into his stretched taut skin.

His eyes glittered as he watched her. She had almost forgotten him, intent on the movements of her hands as her eyes followed the quick twitching responses to her pleasuring of him. As he continued to watch, gasping out quick, panting breaths, hips shifting restlessly and fitfully beneath her, trying to make contact, to feel her moist, heated touch against his skin as she pressed intimately against his thighs, her tongue emerged to lick delicately at her lower lip. A rough, shuddering sigh tore through the large body writhing seductively beneath hers as she began to tug slowly and rhythmically at his erection.

The erotic sounds of his moans inspired her as his hips rose imperatively to join her rhythm and he saw her smile.

She loved to please him. Loved the rare moments when he would give himself over to her, letting his own needs overtake hers, letting her stroke and caress him and pleasure him into orgasm. Sometimes she felt that he allowed himself that indulgence far too little. She had always known that he would be tender and caring in loving her. His gentle nature and the love that shone in his eyes whenever he looked at her had made that a given. But the way that he loved her, the ways that he took care of her, the tender pleasuring of her body that he spoiled her with, had surpassed all of her wildest expectations.

She loved him for that and for himself. But often she thought that he took too much care of her, that he sacrificed his own desires to satisfy her far too often and these all too rare moments, when he would submit to her, let her please him, were a source of delight for her. Moments she relished to the full whenever she could.

She leant forward, tongue emerging to flick across the baby-soft tip of his shaft, tasting the salt warmth of the liquid beading there, and then retreated. Her hand slipped up and over his tip to coat her palm with more of that thick, viscous moisture before spreading it slickly back across the hard ridge beneath her fingers.

"Oh, baby......oh, god......Lois......!"

Clark's groans of pleasure grew harsher in his throat as her hands continued to stroke him and he cried out sharply as she leant forward again, this time to take the engorged tip of his arousal between her lips. She let herself move smoothly forward, the warm cavern of her mouth enclosing his hardness, allowing him to slide fully and completely into the hot, moist and welcoming depths waiting for him.

Her husband's body juddered fiercely against her as he cried out her name. His hips rocked in spasms of need and hunger, driving him further into that warmth and heat as she played her tongue along his swollen flesh and sucked strongly on the satisfying length of him filling her mouth.

"Lois......Lois, god, I - I can't -- !"

His hands rose to fist themselves into her hair, pressing her deeper against the coarse curls at the base of his shaft and she burrowed her way deeper still, glorying in the harsh, breathless gasps and groans spilling from his throat as she continued to play with him and taste him, savoring the growing, musky scent of his arousal as it filled the air between them.

Clark's cries rose in pitch and he cried out again, a wondering, thankful voicing of her name as, with one last rocking thrust upward, he felt himself lengthen and pour his essence into her, the tight wire of tension twisting in his belly and groin releasing itself in a sudden implosion of wave after wave of flooding, sweet, heated warmth.

Lois kept him with her, lapping at him, milking him, until he was spent, and then raised her head, her eyes hot and feverish on his as she let him slip from her lips and took him into her hands. She bestowed a featherlight kiss against his trembling flesh, a caress that set an aftershock of rippling heat through him and bucked his hips lightly against her hands.

It was a half-hearted movement, sluggish and lethargic as the shudders rocking his large body began to subside, but he was still firm, still hard and thick and satisfying in her hands and able to fill her. She lifted herself quickly, guiding him to her entrance, where her heat drew him in.

Eager and impatient, she didn't even take time to divest herself of the lace panties she still wore. Instead, sparing the barest thought for it, she mentally and cheerfully consigned yet more underwear to the trash can and rapaciously impaled herself on him with one swift, sinuous movement.

As expected, the flimsy lace barrier proved no obstacle to the burgeoning super-powered shaft that sought to plunge itself within the heated haven of her moist, welcoming core. It simply pushed its way through, tore itself a path and gleefully buried itself within her, unhindered.

His groan of renewed pleasure mingled with her own as she ground down against him, whimpering as she felt him stretch her fully, enter her deeply, her wet, eager depths opening before him willingly.

Her inner muscles clenched, pulling him further within her, tightening around him seductively and squeezing him like a velvet coated vice as she spread her fingers against his hips for balance. She rocked against him in sinuous, sultry circlings of her hips and he lifted energetically to meet her need. And his own. They found a mutually satisfying rhythm almost immediately, their pace quickening, growing less controlled, more instinctive and primal as their joined bodies strained towards completion.

Clark pried his hands clear of where they clenched and plucked spasmodically at fistfuls of comforter and let them reach out to cup at her breasts. He rubbed the pads of his thumbs across their hard nubs as he fondled and squeezed their weight firmly, kneading roughly at their pliant mounds. Her back arched, pressing hard against his hands and a low moan trickled from her lips. Her head fell back, her eyes closing as she gave herself over to the tide of rising heat that welled up in her and trailed delicious fingers of fire down into the very heart of her core. Her hands lifted, closing over his and guiding him in rougher circles against her skin, her whimpers growing sharper as he followed her motions diligently.

Lois looked down at him, eyes luminous pools of dark fire and her hands on his stilled, her fingers entwining themselves in his to pull them clear of her and settle their tightly joined grip against the rock-hard, washboard muscles of his stomach. Clark tugged lightly and then surrendered to her submissively as her fingers tightened, holding him in place. Her eyes never left his, seeing the arousal glow in them as she continued to rock her hips in steady rhythm. Her body, grown slippery with the sweat of their exertions and the juices of her desire, slid slickly against the rigid thrust of his length into her, as she rode him vigorously.

Lois shifted, loosening her grip and laying her fingers atop his instead. She pressed down hard against his hands, using the leverage to lift herself slightly, not enough to break their rhythm, but enough to allow her to stretch out across his chest. She steadied herself with one hand and raised the other to cup at her breast. She leant further, tongue flicking restlessly across her lips as she brought herself into reach and drew the tip of her swollen nipple lightly to follow the curve of his mouth in a tempting, teasing offering.

Clark savored the touch as she traced his upper lip and then parted his lips slightly as she retraced her path to pull the taut nub gently between his teeth. He tugged firmly, seeing her response in the sudden quickening of her breath and the pressure against his thrusting shaft as she ground down hard again. Her soft cries of pleasure excited him further. He flicked at the firm, rosy bud in his mouth with his tongue and then opened his mouth fully to pull her in further, suckling fiercely.

He felt her start to slide as her knees buckled and spread a hand against the small of her back, fixing her against him. He slid the hand further as he continued to pleasure her breast, his free hand joining it as he settled them against her rising and falling buttocks. He pressed her deeply into him, feeling her jerk and buck uncontrollably beneath his hands as the thick, heated length plunging into her drove deeper into her depths, stretching her further, filling her even more completely.

"Clark - !" Lois gasped out urgently.

He resisted her attempts to ride him, pressing her in place, holding her still as he cupped her firmly in his hands, bracing her against the fierce stroking thrust and withdrawal and thrust again of his aching member inside her.

Lois cried out sharply, sobbing wildly now, the incoherent pulse of words spilling from her throat rising to a wail as the firewall raging within her pulsed suddenly and sharply into orgasm. Heat and light washed over her in waves as she shuddered and rocked and ground up against the hands fondling and squeezing the twin mounds of her buttocks and a moment later, dimly, she felt him join her, the thick, warm flood of his seed filling her and adding to her completion as he emptied himself eagerly into her a second time.

For the longest time, there was nothing but a dim sense of floating on heat and light as rippling tides of surging fire swept over her again and again.

Gradually though she became aware of Clark's hand stroking gently at her hair as she lay limply between his thighs and against his chest, her cheek resting against the slick, damp warmth of his skin. She moaned softly, feeling sore and sated and deliciously exhausted. The moan became a low, throbbing purr of contentment as she felt his hands slide warmly upward from where they still rested, pressed firmly against the firm mounds of her backside, to trace the curve of her spine and enclose her upper arms. She could feel him filling her even now and the sensation sent a small twitch of interest skittering along her spine. But she was too tired, too spent, to explore it further.

"Wow......!" Her husband's voice came shakily out of the darkness and Lois smiled. "Debt repaid?"

"With interest," he said, still sounding slightly awed.

"Hmmmmm." She traced the tip of one finger around the firm nub of his nipple and then placed her lips gently to it. "That's good."

Clark lifted her smoothly and settled her higher against him, holding her lightly and comfortably as he kissed her tenderly. "Well, maybe," he considered, mock doubtful. "So long as you don't pay *all* your debts that way." He grinned. "If the mailman or the pizza delivery guy or that grocery clerk from the deli at the corner start looking inordinately pleased with themselves at the end of the month, I'm going to start worrying."

Lois let her forehead fall to his chest and giggled softly. She kissed his dampened skin and then shifted to lay her head against his shoulder with a low sigh. "That mailman's a mail*woman*, sweetheart. Trust me, you don't have to worry."

"Oh, I dunno, these days, you never can tell - "

His wife's small fist pounded his shoulder and he gave up with another grin, settling himself to letting his hands wander her curves lazily instead. He explored her with his hands and small touches of his lips for a time, quietly enjoying her as she snuggled closer against his warmth, nuzzling softly at her face and neck. Lois closed her eyes and let herself drift.

Silence settled on them warmly. Lois let her mind wander over the past few hours, a satisfied smile spreading on her face. As her thoughts returned to one moment of conversation though a small frown disturbed her blissful reverie, puckering her brow.

Finally, she said curiously, "What *were* you going to say that morning?"

Clark stirred from where he'd almost drowsed his way into sleep. He frowned. "What morning?"

"You know, when I woke up in your apartment. Alan was still sleeping and you were there, just standing there, watching me - that was sweet - and you said I didn't ever have to bid for your attention. You said I was special. That I was the first woman who'd ever interviewed you and that made me special." She raised herself to look up at him, curiously. "But that wasn't what you were going to say, was it?"

He smiled gently down at her, his eyes and his words colored by the memory of that morning. Of how beautiful she'd looked as he'd watched her sleep. "No. What I was going to say was that you were the first woman who'd ever made my heart race every time I saw you. Who made me feel good about my powers for the first time in my life. Who made me ache with longing. Tremble with desire......" His lips took a lingering trail across her jaw and cheek with each new addition to his list as his hand played against her hair. "The first woman I ever loved."

Lois smiled, tipping her head to one side and rubbing lightly against the side of his jaw. "Wow, all that, huh?" she said, but there was a small catch in her voice that belied the flippancy of her words and she buried her face in his shoulder for a moment, with a quiet sigh.

He nodded. "All that - and more."

"More?"

He grinned at the hopeful note in her voice. "There's always more, Lois."

She wrapped her arms around his neck with a lazy smile. "Oh, sweetheart, I certainly hope so."

He chuckled, pulling her into his arms and letting his hands roam her curves as he kissed her thoroughly.

The End.

Comments welcome at (labrat@dircon.co.uk) Especially notification of typos of a truly embarrassing nature and/or 'dropped stitches' in the text. (I'm still smarting from missing that, in one of my previous nfics, Clark apparently had four hands at one point. Except, of course, that I've decided he didn't. He just moved really, *really* fast. Boy, those super powers sure come in handy times, huh?) Anyway, can't say I'll always agree with you, but I swear I'll listen <EG>

Don't ask about the title. It was all sort of bound up with another story I'm working on - SUGAR & SPICE - in a vague kind of way, but apart from that......and the fact that it has puppies in there *somewhere*......it has very little to do with anything really! :)