INSIDE SCOOP

Lois Lane hated late nights in the newsroom.

Well no, she amended honestly to herself as she frowned doggedly at her screen, actually what she really hated were nights spent *alone* in the newsroom, with her partner absent who knew where and her......dumb, *stupid* story - she stabbed an irritable finger down on the delete key, consigning half of her latest paragraph to the oblivion it truly deserved - just refusing to work out like it should!

She blew out a disgusted breath, paused to pick up the nearest pencil from the scatter at her elbow, and stroked it heavily enough through the untidy scrawl of notes on her pad that it almost tore its way through to the pages beneath. Then, stabbing the offending instrument behind one ear, she straightened with the light of newly determined battle in her deep, brown eyes.

For a time, she attacked her keyboard vigorously and the silence of the otherwise empty newsroom played host to a variety of choicely muttered oaths that wouldn't have been found in any dictionary or spellcheck facility.

Finally, she leant back wearily against her chair with a satisfied sigh. Lois Lane, brilliant investigative reporter, multiple Kerth and soon to be Pulitzer winner and all round *legend* of the newsworld had done it again! This one had major league dynamite written all over it. She could tell. It was going to blow Councilman Fahey out of the water and feed him to the sharks. And it wasn't going to happen to a guy more deserving of it.

Lois smiled and cocked a finger, pistol fashion, at the faintly glowing lines of text on the screen. "Gotcha!"

Straightening, she stretched her arms above her head, arching her back to ease the kinks out of her spine, and started violently as a pair of strong arms enveloped her from behind and a pair of large hands knitted their fingers against her ribs.

"Isn't that my line?"

Warm lips pressed softly against the side of her throat, just above the collar of her blouse - a particular spot that he knew darn well drove her wild - and ran a path of sudden fire along the line of her neck and jaw before settling to nibbling arbitrarily at her earlobe. The hands spread against her stomach shifted too, skimming upwards to cradle the full weight of her breasts through their covering of maroon silk. They explored the malleable curves lazily, thumbs rubbing feathered strokes against their faint peaks, lightly at first then more firmly as they hardened eagerly beneath the caress.

A quiet moan broke in Lois' throat as she let her head fall back against the rock-hard stomach muscles behind her and breathed in the freshly laundered scent of a blue-striped shirt.

"Oh god.....but you'd better be my husband," she murmured, closing her eyes.

A soft chuckle burred in her ear, a sound which sent a familiar low shiver straight down through her spine to the tips of her toes and the well-known, well-loved voice - which mostly had the same effect - whispered, "Actually, I happen to know *he*'s tied up on a really *big* assignment right now." The hands dropped away to run lightly up her arms and then tightened, tugging her, unprotesting, to her feet and turning her to face him. "Likely to keep him occupied for hours...."

His eyes traveled across her face as he spoke, as though memorizing every curve and shadow, before they settled, intently, on her lips. He raised a hand to cradle her cheek, the pad of one thumb stroking a line across the contours of her mouth. Her lips parted under the exploratory touch, just enough to let her draw the tip of his thumb into the moist, welcoming warmth beyond. Holding his gaze as she sucked gently on its tip, she watched the beautiful, chocolate brown irises of her husband contract sharply, a darkening of desire that provoked an answering flare of anticipation in her. She paused, then nipped firmly at his skin and he smiled, withdrawing his thumb and tucking it beneath her chin. He used the leverage to tip her head just enough for him to find her lips with his own in a gentle, heady kiss.

"Assignment?" Lois feigned annoyance when he lifted his head again. She slipped her arms around his neck and tilted her head to view him with a frown as his eyes, soft and tender now, moved to the dark cloud of her hair. He stroked a quiet hand through it, tucking an errant strand behind her ear as he listened to her add, indignantly, "You mean he's trying to scoop me?"

Clark grinned. "It's the whole purpose to his life," he informed her soberly, before lowering his head again to take advantage of her pose, trailing his lips across the bared length of her throat.

"It......is?" Lois closed her eyes as she let her head fall even further to one side, granting him more access. He took it eagerly.

"Mmmmm-hmm. Never gets tired of it."

"Why do I.......oh, that is *so*......uh......why do I get the feeling we're not talking news stories here?"

She felt his smile against the bare skin of her shoulder as he extended the range of his explorations. Bare? Her eyes flew open, wide and momentarily startled, as she realized that at some point his fingers had managed to undo the buttons of her blouse all the way down to her navel, enabling him to nuzzle the material out of his way as he let his lips and mouth discover her. When had he...... *How* had he.....?"

"Can't imagine," he was saying, entirely oblivious to her confusion. "So.....what'd you say....." He nibbled his way along the length of her collarbone and into the hollow of her shoulder, sucking gently at her skin. Lois whimpered softly and closed her eyes again, questions forgotten. ".....we take advantage of his absence......" His lips ran a swift, molten path up across throat, jaw and cheek. ".....to get...." He captured her lower lip, tugging gently. "....better....." His tongue followed the bow of her mouth, questing its way along its curves before forcing an entry into its slick, inner warmth. "...acquainted...." He finished finally on a low breath, giving in as her lips eagerly melded to his and plunging his tongue into the heated cavern of her mouth where it met her own in a satisfying tangle.

Lois sighed into his mouth, her grip tightening around his neck to drag him closer. They spent a pleasurable few moments in lazy, mutual exploration and then Lois broke away slightly. She smiled and dropped her gaze as she smoothed lightly at his tie. "I didn't think it was possible to get *better* acquainted, Mr. Kent."

He shrugged, letting his hands trail a lingering path down from her shoulders to the small of her back, where he netted his fingers lightly at the base of her spine, cradling her against him. "Well, you know what they say. There's always room for improvement."

He lowered his head just as she raised her chin expectantly and then he paused, his eyes sharpening as they were caught by something over her shoulder. Letting her go and easing her gently to one side, he stepped around her to lean one hand against the desk edge, using the other to punch at her keyboard.

"Hey, you got the dirt on Fahey after all? Wow...." His eyes brightened as he scrolled down through the lines of green text. "Honey, this is great! Bobby was right about that storage locker, huh? Man, Fahey is gonna roll just like a six week old puppy when this hits the stands. The IRS are gonna be digging through Council finances for years! With any luck they'll launch an in-depth probe into the records of those school building contractors too. You know," he looked up at her, seriously, "we should maybe do a side-bar on that, see if we can't -- "

He stopped, her sudden move surprising him as she insinuated herself between him and the screen, bumping him back a pace or so with a swift, sinuous motion of her hips. She pouted up at him as she gripped his tie hard in her fists and tugged, just enough to ensure she had his attention. "Forget the side-bar," she growled. "Just back up there a bit, partner!"

"Back.....back up?"

For a moment, confused, he took the command literally, easing himself another step away from her and found himself jerked unceremoniously back into place by his tie as she glared at him. Oh, so not literally then. Okay..... He backtracked hastily over what he'd just said. What *had* he said? Trod on her toes? Tried to horn in on her take? Well, no he hadn't said.......well, he certainly hadn't *meant*.......after all it *was* their story.....or at least it had started out that way and it wasn't his fault that Superman had had to duck out on her just as the story broke wide open......

"Yeah," she interrupted his thoughts breathlessly as she loosened at his tie with quick, almost desperate jerks of her fingers. "To the important bit. The bit where you were saying something about in-depth probes....."

"In-depth......oh!" he said, suddenly catching on. He glanced down at the fingers making short work of his tie and then up into the determined set of his wife's face; her attention fixed doggedly on the task, the tip of her tongue caught between her teeth. Her heartbeat had suddenly hiked up.......he made a rapid calculation in his head and his eyebrows lifted sharply. Wow......! He glanced across his shoulder and then cleared his throat roughly. Lois grunted in satisfaction as she finally got the knot undone. Clark smiled, leaning forward and nuzzling at the soft skin just below her left ear. "How about we adjourn....this meeting....to the conference room?" he suggested.

Lois pushed herself clear of him with a hand flat against his chest, shaking her head as he took the hint and straightened to give her a quizzical look. She backed up further against her desk, still clutching one end of the now loosened tie, which rasped its way slowly through the collar of his shirt to follow her. Letting it dangle in her fingers, she placed a hand on either side of her, curling her fingers around the edge of the desk. Her tongue flicked out slowly to line her lower lip and then retreated as she caught the lip between her teeth. She gifted him a sultry smile.

Clark watched her, suspiciously. She had that gleam in her eye that always set his trouble thermometer soaring.

And other things besides.

"Lo-is.......?" He said, half warningly.

The smile metamorphed into one of her mega-watt bright and innocent smiles - of the sort she used to snowblind possible felons during interviews - and then she hitched herself slowly and voluptuously upward until she was seated fully on the edge of her desk. The motion hiked her already short skirt higher to expose more of what Clark had always considered pretty spectacular thighs, so the move pretty much drew his attention immediately.

Lois wriggled to settle herself and then drew her hands through the gaily patterned tie, taking it slow and then snapping it tight when she reached its other end. Clark flinched. Then she tossed it negligently over one shoulder.

"How about, we don't?" she murmured.

She slid one impossibly long leg slowly along the outside of his, a small smile flickering at her lips as she felt the hard muscle in his thigh twitch violently, and then placed a stiletto-clad foot on the seat of the chair directly behind him. It was quite some distance away, so the move had the net effect of stretching the leg out almost to the limit of its reach, her knee only slightly bent.

"How about, we stay right here."

Before Clark could accurately divine her intentions, still caught in admiration of the view, her other leg came up equally gracefully to perch a foot on the chair-arm on his other side, effectively trapping him.

Not that escape was remotely on his mind right at that moment. What *was* on his mind was written clear on his face as he swept hot eyes along the lines of those long......long.....legs -- and translated just as plainly into certain other portions of his anatomy which had taken even more immediate and curious note of her actions and leapt to sudden attention, clearly of the opinion that things were starting to get interesting.

Lois glanced down to judge just how much attention had been paid and then smiled lazily up at him again.

Clark had become properly aware of what she'd said by now though. He dragged his mesmerized gaze away from following the glorious curves of ankle, knee and thigh ever upward to where the hem of her skirt abruptly spoiled his view and looked up at her, vaguely startled.

"H--here?" he blurted. He glanced around the empty newsroom nervously. "But.....honey, it's right out in the open here, anyone could.....well, I mean....." He gestured a flustered hand haphazardly over her shoulder. "We're right in front of the elevators and there's the stairs and --- "

"That's not what you said in that alleyway behind the Dairy Freeze the other evening," she reminded him smugly, removing one foot briefly from its position and stroking it steadily against his thigh.

He reddened slightly. "That was.......different. You'd got me in way too much of a hurry to think at all," he admitted. "There was no way we were going to make it back to the apartment." He paused and blushed a little deeper. "Besides that was......nostalgic."

She grinned at him, remembering a time when she'd all but accused him of trying to maneuver her into a hick country date.

"Try inventive. I got more than a hickey out of you in *that* backlot."

"Well, yes.....but we weren't likely to get caught by someone we know, even if we were disturbed," he pointed out, giving her his steady, patented, 'Superman knows best' look, which meant, she assumed, that he figured he'd just won on points.

Lois sighed - ah, the naivete of the common or garden Metropolis male - and crooked a finger at him. With only an instant's hesitation, he leant forward obligingly.

Well, Lois corrected herself with a faint smile, of the unusual and extra-ordinary Metropolis male, certainly. She stretched her neck to reach his left ear. "That's what makes it fun," she confided in what Clark could only describe as a purr. She reached up and fisted her hands in the front of his shirt, jerking him closer.

"What's the matter, farmboy? Lose your appetite?"

Clark swallowed, hard. Actually, he wasn't losing anything. A fact which Lois became almost instantly aware of as he pressed intimately against her from his new position, pinned tight against the juncture of her thighs.

Clark considered his position - in more ways than one - in a fraction of a second. Actually, he supposed that she was as aware as he was that they weren't taking that much of a risk. It was almost two a.m. They were unlikely to be disturbed by any of their colleagues foregoing the comforts of a warm bed for the dust and ink of the newsroom at this hour. And Ted, the Planet's night security guard, was currently doing his rounds of the basement archives. Clark knew his routine. It would be another hour at least before Ted made his way to check out the newsroom. Besides, even if someone did decide to pay them an impromptu visit......well, he'd be sure to hear anyone arriving long before they exited the elevator or stairwell. No matter how much of a determined effort Lois made to distract him. The dry, analytical portion of his brain which habitually dealt with such theories gave him a skeptical nudge. Yeah, right, it snorted derisively in his ear, and since when had he been aware of anything but Lois, heard anyone but Lois, when they made love?

He looked into the bright sparkle in his wife's eyes. Excitement almost glowed in the soft, brown depths, practically lighting her up from within and he knew it came from more than the faintly - and undeniably erotic - thrill of chancing discovery. He'd seen that particular gleam before.

Who cares? a more immediate part of him joined in the debate. Mr. Cautious 'n' Careful rolled his eyes and gave up. Clark didn't miss him any.

He grinned. "Well, if you put it like that...." he murmured as his hands spread themselves warmly against her thighs. It had been an unseasonably warm day and she had dispensed with stockings in the interests of comfort. It was a decision he hadn't seen fit to comment on at the time, but which he was wholeheartedly approving of now. His fingers kneaded gently at the soft, sensitive flesh of her inner thighs, using his grip to brace himself as he leaned in for a taste of her mouth.

"Sweetheart, I can put it any way you like," Lois offered up a throaty promise against his lips as she set to work on the buttons of his shirt.

A deep rumble of laughter vibrated from the depths of the smoothly muscled chest she was rapidly baring and she spread his shirt wide, pushing it back from his shoulders with blind, questing fingers as their kiss deepened and she gave herself over to the warm ripples of pleasure spilling down her throat and settling a new, but familiar incandescence in the pit of her belly.

His hand cupped the back of her head, fixing her against his lips as they crushed her own with a gentle yet feverish desperation. He used his free hand to help her divest him of the shirt and felt her blissful sigh fill his mouth as she was suddenly free to explore to the full the hard slabs of muscle across his chest and shoulders, smoothing her hands across the soft skin and feeling its heat warm her palms. Her hands began a meandering trail downward, delighting in the faint shudder that rippled through the tight, washboard muscles of his stomach in response to her caressing fingers.

Clark closed his eyes, his hands intent on their own quest, returning to massage her thighs, then pushing further, taking the edge of her skirt with them and gathering it up between her legs. His thumbs dug deep, firm circles into the muscles in the creases between the tops of her legs and the already hot core of her desire.

Lois shifted restlessly against him, a soft, delightful mewling issuing from her throat. One foot kicked off the chair, propelling it back to hit hard against the desk opposite as she wrapped both legs around his waist in one swift motion. She wriggled deliciously against him, trying to force herself closer still, and provoking a deep, tortured groan from her husband.

Clark barely had time to react before she plunged her hands into his hair, dragging him down to kiss him with a ferocity that left even Superman gasping for breath, her lips grinding themselves to his, her tongue demanding entry and finding it as he obligingly surrendered to her impatience.

Her aggressiveness didn't surprise him any. Like the fire that had been in her eyes a moment earlier, he recognized the urgent need in her as a familiar memory. She'd been running on pure adrenaline for most of the day: closing in on corrupt Councilmen, raging against the red-tape bureaucracy which seemed hell-bent on protecting him, battling with obstinate parking attendants who were determined to tow her car when she'd only left it parked like that for just *one* lousy minute....fighting a thousand private and personal wars......and winning just about all of them. In short, just simply being Lois Lane.

Much of that fireball energy humming inside her now - primal and restless - had been grounded already, poured into an intense few hours of dragging a blood and guts, dynamite story out of her computer that would put a smile wider than the Cheshire Cat's on their Editor's face in the morning. But even the satisfaction of work well done, of running down her prey, of finally hunting to extinction what she'd been tracking for weeks and getting down the take, couldn't exorcise the demons in her entirely. She needed more. Much more. She was up on a five mile high right now, tripping out on her victory, and she needed him to let her earth the electricity raging through her.

Clark didn't mind acting as Lois' own personal and convenient lightning-rod though. It did, after all, have its own rewards, he thought, with an inward grin, as he responded to the urgency in his partner's eyes, cheerfully letting her force the pace and course of their love-making, acquiescing to the urgent demands she was making on his body, knowing how badly she needed the release of pushing them both to the limits of their endurance and passion.

He shifted his grip on her, a low, guttural moan breaking harshly in his throat as his hands slip up along her hips and around her waist, tightening his hold to press the length of her soft curves against the corresponding hardness of his body. They slid a firm path along her spine in the way he knew she loved and he felt his own pulse quickening at the sensation, his own heart tripping over into a reckless hammerbeat, driving in tune with the thunderous beat of blood in his ears, melding and entwining with the rushing life force of his partner. Blood to blood. Heart to heart. Soul to soul. Until it was impossible for him to recognize where they became one and where they moved apart.

Lois' fingers crept upwards to clutch at the curve of his neck, pulling herself higher to savage his lips with a fierce, panting kiss and then trailing bright, sunburst pulses of heat down his throat and chest as she tracked open-mouthed caresses downward, following the meandering path her hands had taken a moment earlier. Those fingers still curled at the waistband of his pants clenched and then fumbled lower. Lost in a haze of sensation and heat, Clark was dimly aware that she was tugging at his zipper, her low, grumbling sounds of discontent testament to her impatience. He put a hand over hers, but in another moment her mumbled groans melted into a sigh of satisfaction as she succeeded in her quest and located what she was searching for.

Clark's breath hissed out between suddenly tight clenched teeth as her fingers slipped beneath the edge of his briefs and clasped the smooth length of his arousal. The contrast between the steady, pulsing heat in his groin and that cool embrace seared him, causing his hips to jerk reflexively against her slowly flexing fingers.

"God.......Lois......"

She slipped from her perch on the desk, breaking his hold on her, her inexorable, downward slide almost bringing him to the brink of his control as it resulted in her body rubbing against the swollen shaft trapped between them. Clark found himself relying on super-human strength as he bit down hard into his lip and pressed his hands down on either side of her. His fingers curled themselves in a tight, almost desperate grip against the edge of the desk, stopping a degree short of leaving gouges in the wood as Lois pushed down his pants and briefs enough to free his straining erection from its increasingly torturous restriction.

He groaned as he felt her clasp him firmly again, tugging him free and Lois glanced up. Beads of sweat had risen on his forehead, the strain of holding back clear in the taut muscles of his neck and the stiffness of his shoulders. Lois stroked firmly across his length to its base and back to the engorged tip. She lowered her head to take the incautious drop of fluid which had escaped him on the tip of her tongue, teasing as she flicked a slow path around the deliciously soft skin. It never ceased to amaze her that such silken softness could conceal such strength beneath it's protective sheath. She smiled slightly as her ministrations caused Clark to jerk involuntarily in her hands, delighting in her own power to shatter his control. She stopped teasing, bending slightly lower to take him fully between her lips, alternately searing his length with delicate laps and whorls of her tongue and light nibbles of her teeth. She lifted her head a little, letting him slip partway from her, tasting and savoring the salt taste of his excitement, and then pulled him back, letting his thickness fill her and breathing deeply of his musky, male scent as his fingers clenched deep into her hair, pressing her more firmly into the cradle of his hips.

"Oh......baby.....that is soooo good......" he whispered.

Clark's breathing grew more ragged as his groans of pleasure and frustration grew deeper and rougher in his throat. He could smell not only the sharpness of his own growing arousal, but Lois' increasing excitement too and the combination propelled him upward, higher and higher. The edges of the desk were beginning to crumble beneath his fingers he realized, and in the interests of preserving both it and his sanity, he tightened his grip on Lois, taking her head between his hands to raise her and stopping her sweet, incessant and delicious torture.

She continued to caress him with one hand, stroking and squeezing gently at the base of his shaft as he moaned a hot breath into her mouth. He reached down to take her fingers firmly in his own, pulling their entwined hands to rest against the slick dampness of his chest as he protested softly, "Honey, please......I want you with me."

Lois smiled softly and stroked a cool hand across his cheek before her eyes grew a wicked gleam.

"Why don't you catch your breath?" she suggested, easing her fingers clear of his and placing both her hands flat against his chest. She pushed him gently backwards. Clark let her. He felt the edge of the chair hit the backs of his knees in another moment and then he was falling into the seat with a thump.

Lois backed off, eyes sparkling with a heat that came from deep within. Clark watched her curiously as she stopped just a few paces distant. She paused for a moment, her smile mysterious and knowing and then she slowly reached for the remaining few buttons at the bottom of her blouse. She undid them without haste, seemingly intent on finding just the exact degree of pressure required to pop them neatly from their moorings. It took almost two minutes of intense concentration - from both of them - before the last of the buttons was freed. One minute, fifty eight seconds to be precise. Clark counted every one of them.

Lois slid her hands in a sultry caress across her waist and stomach, slipping higher to cup the weight of her breasts briefly as Clark's increasingly hot eyes followed her every move intently. His gaze rested on the soft swells of honey-colored flesh spilling over the lacy edge of pale peach satin that confined them and the dark, shadowed smudge of skin between them and then flickered to where his wife had begun teasing the pebble hard centers between her thumbs and forefingers.

Lois closed her eyes, momentarily distracted by the electric jolt of fire that branded its way through her belly and into the moist, throbbing between her thighs, her breathing quickening in a trembling sigh as her fingers traced circles of tight need around her nipples. She rolled her palms lightly across the swollen nubs and whimpered softly at the sensation, which balanced a fine knife edge between pain and ecstasy, tightening a coil of near unbearable tension low down in ......a low growl a few paces away stuttered her eyes open again abruptly.

She paused, slightly sheepish, and gave Clark a soft, apologetic smile before leaving her breasts and edging her fingers higher to take hold of the edges of her blouse. Giving him a quick - needless - glance to ensure that he was still paying attention, she eased back the maroon silk, teasing it inch by tantalizing inch from her shoulders to glide downwards in a gathering pool at her elbows. Straightening her arms, she let it slide, the silk rustling heavily in Clark's ears as gravity helped it on its way to the floor.

Lois watched his reaction from beneath her lashes as she ducked her head, playing one, long finger seductively down the valley between her breasts until it came to rest on the low front edge of her bra. She stifled a giggle. She caught her lower lip between her teeth and saw him respond almost unconsciously by licking quickly at his own. Another low rumble of frustration gathered in his throat as he stared at her, mesmerized and there was a firestorm raging in his eyes, a deep, primal gleam, that made Lois abruptly aware that she was playing a dangerous game. The thought sent a delicious shiver through her, almost making her gasp aloud.

Her fingers trembled as they freed the catch and she dispensed with the bra in much the same way as she had her blouse before it. She reached quickly for the zipper at the side of her skirt, shimmying it down her hips in an exaggerated hula that caused Clark's eyebrows to climb abruptly into his hair. When it was pooled in a careless heap at her ankles she kicked it negligently to one side with a judicious foot.

Clad only in her brief lace and satin panties she posed before him, her recklessness dizzying her as she saw the heat in his eyes glow brighter.

Clark felt as though he was going to explode as he watched Lois stretch up her arms and push her fingers into the dark spill of her hair, raking them seductively through its heavy, gleaming mass. The tightening bulge between his legs throbbed as his eyes darkened and lingered on what her movements did to the firm, naked globes of her breasts, tightening their muscles and drawing them taut. Lois laughed in delight as she watched him, reveling in the heady sense of power his reactions sent surging through her. She arched her back slightly, tilting the pert tips of her breasts provocatively higher, the appreciation and hot desire in her husband's eyes spilling a warmth through her which translated all at once into a heavy tug of need deep in the center of her own desire. A low surge of wetness gathered between her thighs. She covered her breasts with crossed arms, hugging herself loosely as she advanced on her husband. More to continue to tantalize than out of any belated sense of modesty.

Clark watched her approach, letting his smoky gaze drift all the way from the graceful curve of her ankles, up along the most spectacular legs he'd ever seen to where her hips swayed in a slow, carnal swing. The twin effect of her seductive motions and false diffidence, her embrace gifting him only shifting glimpses of her breasts, was more erotic than seeing her naked before him would have been. Clark swallowed roughly. It had been a torture more glorious than anything he'd known to force himself to stay seated in his chair as she'd teased and taunted him with the slow revelation of her nakedness. More than once he had barely been able to prevent himself from just scooping her up and taking her there on the cool tiled floor of the newsroom, to bury himself in her soft, moist depths again and again, as the combination of glistening skin and the sharp spiced scent of her excitement stoked a raging fire in his groin. That temptation - that primitive, almost tribal *need* to possess her - had both appalled and thrilled him in equal measure.

That same duality of emotion he saw reflected in her eyes as she strutted for him, proud and passionate in her desire and unashamed of her lust. He had nothing to compare her with, he thought, feeling a quiet pride well in him below the rushing beat of more immediate emotions. No other woman in his life had ever revealed so much of herself to him, had shared so much of her passion and soul, had let him rest within the barriers she held against the world. Yet her knew that even if there had been any before her, he would still have found her incomparable. Nothing and no one would ever come remotely close to his Lois. And he knew they never would.

Lois halted her approach just shy of the chair and he smiled, seeing just a hint of uncertainty flicker in her eyes. She was contrite, sure she'd gone too far, teased him too unbearably, but, curiously, though his desire had never been sated, and although the hard bulge between his legs remained, unsatisfied and aching, he felt a wave of tenderness sweep through him, a sudden dampening of passion, a flickering moment of peace in the eye of the storm.

He lifted a hand, holding it out to her in silent invitation and she took it lightly in her own, letting him tug her forward until she was standing between his thighs, gripped lightly in place by the soft nudge of his knees against her own.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered, reaching up to brush the tips of his fingers over the rosy nub of a nipple and smiling more widely at the soft sound the caress provoked from his wife.

He shifted, leaning forward slightly to take gentle hold of her around the waist, lifting her onto his lap and stifling a low groan as she wriggled delightfully, slipping her legs through the arms of their chair until her feet touched the floor and settling into position straddling him. She smiled and put up a hand that trembled slightly to brush at the wayward lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead. Then she framed his face in her hands to kiss him deeply, her breasts pressing heavily against the naked heat of his chest.

She poured all of the words she could never express into the caress. Her love, her gratitude, her appreciation of this wonderful man who shared her life. What had she ever done to earn him? She couldn't think of a single thing. Sometimes, in the slow, empty hours stretching till dawn, safe in the harbour of his arms, she would, even now, find herself plagued by old fears and petty insecurites, driven by demons she had thought long since smothered into silence. And she would lay, wondering in the blackness, listening to his calm, even breathing in the silence of their bedroom, and be stricken once again by how easily she might have let him slip past her. How bleak a future path she might have set foot on. All the bleaker for never having known just what it was she'd lost. Lord alone knew she'd given him little enough encouragement to keep pursuing her. She smiled now, against the lips enjoying hers. Thank heavens for good old Super-tenacity.

She sighed in renewed pleasure as she kneaded her hands against the smooth, warm skin of his shoulders, reveling in the hardness beneath her rolling fingertips. She shivered as his hands brushed his own lines of heat across her breasts, always resting, almost but not quite, on the pebbled centers, still aching from his earlier touch. She moaned a low protest as the tips of his fingers approached the heart of that pulsing ache time and again, always sliding away and then returning. His mouth ran hot across her chest and shoulders, up along the pulse of her throat, both listening and feeling its increasing beat as it sped beneath the satin skin under his lips.

"Clark......" Lois groaned and he answered the plea, finally taking firm hold, his thumbs rubbing hard across her taut, pouting nipples as he gripped and molded, rolled and fondled the soft globes in his hands.

Still, it wasn't enough. Lois' hands fluttered like startled doves against his hair, her fingers burying themselves in its thick waves and pressing his face into the sweetly scented valley between her breasts as she cried out softly. Spurred on by the small whispers of pleasure breaking in his wife's throat, Clark slid his hands from her breasts, his arms entwining around her, pulling her closer as he spread his hands across her shoulders. He tasted her warm flesh, his tongue lapping a rough path around first one nipple and then the other, his mouth following her curves, trailing open-mouthed kissed in decreasing circles until her back arched in a jolting curve, her body begging silently for more in ways more enticing than any words she could voice.

Clark wasn't slow to take a hint. One of the many things she loved about the man, Lois thought with a blissful smile before all thoughts dissolved into the spiraling surge of white-hot heat that was suddenly flowing like molten lava within her as she felt Clark's lips take fierce possession of the hardened peak at the tip of her breast. The tight, erotic tug against her skin sent fire flooding through her veins as she sobbed out her husband's name.

Clark smiled as he suckled at her breast, increasing his pull as his wife's increasingly rapid breaths and sharp, excited cries drove him to greater effort. He loved the small, soft sounds she made when he pleasured her. Pleasing her had always been as arousing to him as finding his own pleasure in her and he delighted in the knowledge that it was he alone who brought her, time and again, to this peak of desire. He closed his eyes and murmured her name, over and over, as he kissed and caressed every inch of flesh on her that he could find, her rising sobs of breath making him grow even harder than he'd been as he'd watched her perform for him earlier.

Lois shuddered in his grasp and Clark opened his eyes. The sight of his wife straddling him, her taut, naked curves slick with a sheen of moisture, her breasts rising and falling rapidly, their tips peaked to rosy nubs, excited him more than anything or anyone else could have. Her head was thrown back, the tendons in her throat stretched tight as wire. Her eyes were closed, her lower lip caught hard between her teeth. Clark frowned. Real hard.

"Honey....." he chided and reached up to curve a hand around her neck and pull her down to lap at the hollow of her throat, tasting her, salt and sweet, before he raised his head, eyes dark and hot, to take her mouth with his.

He eased her lips apart, soothing the bruised flesh. Their lips merged, the kiss deepening and sending them both spinning upward as their world contracted around them, its limits and its reality defined solely by the sensations they were creating in each other.

Her breath coming in short, heavy gasps now, Lois rocked frantically against the hard ridge of his erection, drawing a tight breath from him as he clenched his teeth against the low jolt of pleasure that surged through him. He retaliated by gently slipping a hand between them, sliding his fingers over the soft satin barrier of her panties. He pushed at the thin material, rubbing the satin against the swollen heart of her sex and heard her moan and catch her breath on a choked cry. He pressed harder, teasing her with the knowledge that the tips of his fingers could only go so far in their exploration with the silky veil between them.

Lois writhed against his fingers, trying to find her own way, trying to ease the unbearable pressure coiling like a tightening wire in her belly. The satin rubbing roughly against her tender nub was sweet torture.

"Please.........oh, honey......please......" she whispered.

He felt a rush of moisture dampen the satin clutched between his fingers. The knuckles of his hand brushed her in one last brief caress and then left her. Lois mewled a low protest and then gasped out a high breath as his hand pushed down beneath her panties and cupped her, squeezing gently. She whimpered as he slid one long finger through the thick nest of moist curls and into the damp folds of flesh beyond. Finding her hot and wet he felt the rough pound of his heart grow more rapid and an answering tug in his own groin as he followed the finger with a second, probing and playing with her, parting her folds and gently thrusting and withdrawing in imitation of what would soon follow. Lois' cries grew more frantic and she wriggled, grinding against his hand, forcing her sensitive nub against his knuckles. Her inner muscles clenched and flexed around his playful stroking as she blindly found his mouth.

She was almost over the edge and he knew it, but he held her a moment longer before he withdrew his fingers, giving her one last firm stroke which bucked her hips hard against him. Ignoring her quick hiss of displeasure against his lips he gripped the satin panties tight and disposed of them with one twist of his wrist. He had no idea where the damp scrap of lace and satin went after that, but later found it tucked into the side of the chair, where he thankfully retrieved it, returning it to its owner before any awkward questions were asked.

For now, his thoughts, his senses, were all of Lois. He slipped his hands up along the outside of her thighs to cup the firm, round cheeks of her bottom, raising her slightly to position her over the eager, straining head of his shaft and then eased her down, sheathing himself, inch by slow inch, deep within her.

Lois shuddered, uttering a soft cry as she felt him, finally, fill her. For an instant they were stilled, taking a moment to simply delight in the new, dizzying reach of sensation that flooded their senses. Trembling, Lois braced her feet against the floor, leaning back and putting her hands on the arms of the chair to brace herself. Clark's hands spread themselves against her back, cradling her and supporting her as she rocked her hips deliberately upward. Again, and Clark laid his head back against the chair, closing his eyes as he groaned. Her new position angled her sharply against him, enabling him to press deeper into her with each jerk of her hips. The pull against him was exquisite.

Lois bucked harder, panting fiercely and Clark moaned again, clenching his large hands tight on her bottom to still her, unable to hold back any longer as he opened his eyes, searching her face and watching her expression as he thrust heavily up into her.

Her eyes were wide, luminous pools, hazed with desire as she looked down at him.

"Clark......!"

She pressed herself to his chest, wrapping her arms tight around his neck and clinging to him as though he were a rock in a storm-tossed sea as she began to rock again, back and forth, finding her own rhythm and guiding him into it. Clark followed her lead, willingly enough, his steady, vigorous thrusts matching her pace as his hands flexed on the smooth muscle beneath his fingers, lifting her against him as that pace became more ragged, less controlled, more primal and instinctive.

Lois buried her face in the hollow of his shoulder, trailing sweet kisses against the side of his neck as she panted quick breaths into his ear and murmured softly urging words over and over, against his brow, his temple, his forehead, his jaw.

Inspired by the erotic noises, Clark reached down between their straining bodies, his fingers finding and caressing her. The light touch sent Lois spiraling higher as she rocked her hips against his arousal and then she was writhing against his fingers, sobbing out his name, crying out her pleasure in a low, keening as she surrendered herself fully to the liquid pulse that was unraveling in the pit of her stomach and pooling wet heat between her thighs. Lightning flared through her in a bright sunburst of heat and light and the sweet, unbearable coil of tension shattered into a haze of rainbow colors and crystal shards, spilling out and over her until she lost herself in him and felt him join her in oblivion. Clark felt her go over the edge as he plunged into her again and then she was clenching tight around him, tugging at him, milking him as he felt himself lengthen within her and then follow her into the bright, pulsing light, spilling himself into her again and again as he thrust deeply upward and into her moist depths one final time, joining her in that firestorm of heated pleasure as he cried out her name.

As Lois' world reformed around her, she became aware of the steady silence of the newsroom, broken only by the distant hum of printers and of traffic far below in the street outside. She found herself held securely in her husband's arms, tucked tenderly into his shoulder as his arms wrapped her tight against him. She smiled and snuggled closer, laying her cheek against the damp warmth of his chest as she drowsily closed her eyes.

She sighed, a small contented sound that drew the attention of the man holding her and he glanced down, drawn out of his own languid thoughts.

He had been drifting warmly in the afterglow of their love-making, listening to the cooling beat of the heart held close against his own as it slowed from its rabbit-fast gallop and lulled him into a pleasantly sated doze. Now, as he looked down at the small, pleasantly exhausted woman nestled in his arms, her face smoothed into an ivory calm, her lips curved in a soft, almost smug smile, he was struck by a truth that he had known a long time, but which still had the power to shake him to the core of his soul each time he discovered it anew. That it was these, these small moments, that were the foundation stones of love. More than all the passion and desire combined, no matter how heady and exciting they could be. It was holding her like this, feeling the sudden fierce urge to protect and cherish her well up in him as he watched her slip into sleep - this amazing, vibrant and sensual woman who had somehow become entangled in his life and heart - that meant everything in the world to him and bound him to her, far beyond any fore-ordained destiny or the entwining of souls. And she to him.

His hands tightened unconsciously with the run of these thoughts from where they lay, one against her hip, the other stroking soft, absent circles on the satin skin just below one breast. He pulled her closer and bent his head close to hers, nuzzling gently at the cloud of dampened hair framing her face. Lois turned her face deeper into the safe harbor of his shoulder. He smiled and set his cheek against her forehead, pressing his lips to her skin and kept on smiling as she reached up sleepily to drape her arms around his neck, innocent and guileless as a child.

"Better?" he murmured.

"Mmmmmm. Much better," she agreed, her voice still thick with the aftermath of passion. Beneath her cheek, the steady beat of his heart soothed her, ticking away the warm moments of her life. "Thank you," she added after a moment and then yawned softly. "You know, I wouldn't be without chocolate when I need to cool down, but I like the way you do it even better."

He chuckled quietly and smoothed a tender hand through her hair. "Now there's a compliment to warm the heart. Nice to know you rate me just slightly higher than a Double Fudge Crunch Bar."

"Don't get carried away, Double Fudge Crunch Bars are pretty good," Lois mumbled, but she patted him against the chest. "You know what I mean."

Clark smiled. "Yeah, I know. And, anytime, baby."

He laid his head back against the edge of the desk behind him and sighed. After a moment, as his eyes wandered lazily over the ceiling above him and he enjoyed the sensation of weaving silk through his fingers, he thought of something.

"You didn't read that memo Perry sent round last week, did you," he murmured. It was more a statement than a question and he sounded amused.

"Memo?" Lois purred lazily against his chest. She planted a small line of kisses against his skin, nuzzling her way across the taut slab of chest muscles and upward to his shoulder. By which, Clark guessed that his Little Tornado had had enough of being satisfied and was revving up for another taste of chocolate. A double scoop, probably. If he was lucky. He grinned.

"Perry sent out nineteen memos last week," she said. "Half his usual number. I think he's going soft on us. And no, I didn't read them. I balled them up and threw them in the trash like always." She raised her head abruptly, fingers pausing in their exploration of him, as a thought occurred. "He's not trying to outlaw kissing in the newsroom *again* is he?" she demanded with a scowl. "You know we're *not* the only married couple who work here and if he thinks he can just -- "

His sudden bark of laughter stopped her. "Lois," he spluttered as she raised a brow at him. "After what we just did, I think *kissing* in the newsroom is the least of Perry's problems! No," he added as she blushed prettily and then grinned sheepishly at him. "I mean the one about the new security measures. You know, I thought it was a good idea. I mean, forget civil liberties, do you know that employee theft is the biggest single cause of profit loss in ninety-seven per cent of American -- "

"What?" Lois stirred from where she'd gone back to more pleasurable pursuits and lifted her head a second time to frown at him. She raked back her hair with an impatient hand from where it obscured her vision.

"Incredible, isn't it? Statistics on stolen pencils alone run at eight hundred thousand every year and as for erasers -- "

Lois blew out a sharp breath. "Clark......what are you talking about? And why are you talking at all?" she added grumpily under her breath as she sat up straight in his lap and trailed her fingers through his hair.

Clark ignored that. And the fact that her new posture brought the enticing sight of her breasts into the range of his vision as they bounced prettily against his chest.

"Employee pilfering," he answered, matter of factly.

Lois paused to consider. "Which has......what - precisely - to do with Perry's memos?" she asked finally.

"Well, the memo was to advise us about the cameras, of course."

Lois stiffened in his embrace. He saw her do it clearly. Her breasts stopped bouncing. "Cameras?"

"Yeah, the hidden cameras Perry had installed last week. To monitor the newsroom and -- "

He was interrupted by a horrified squeal from his erstwhile lover as she scrambled out of his arms and off his lap and hurriedly scooped up the jumble of discarded clothing littering the floor. She pressed the bundle against her breasts, all the while glancing wide-eyed around her.

"Ohmigod! Clark -- !" she appealed desperately, simultaneously trying to shake out and identify the various items she held whilst maintaining them as cover. She managed to get an arm through one sleeve of her blouse and struggled to find the other one, one handed. After a momentary bout of cursing she succeeded.

"Well, don't just *sit* there! *DO* --- !" she trailed off as her stricken glance upward found Clark doubled over in his chair, laughing helplessly.

Lois' jaw dropped as she froze and then her eyes narrowed. "Why you - "

"Hey!" Clark held up defensive hands to fend her off and then used them to catch her against him as she dropped the remainder of her clothes and pounced on him with a growl. He gave obligingly so that she didn't hurt her fist and even offered up an amiable "Ow!" as she punched him against one shoulder and then did it again for good measure.

"I'll get you for that, Kent! Just see if I don't!"

He captured he fist as she raised it for another punch and brought it swiftly to his lips. He kissed each knuckle gently, surreptitiously inspecting it for bruising, and she softened. Seeing the fire in her eyes turn molten he wrapped his arms around her with a chuckle.

"I certainly hope so." He watched one finger draw a thoughtful, careful line down between the edges of her open blouse, feeling her shiver follow its trail. "Your ideas for revenge are always very......inventive." The knuckles of one hand brushed softly against a nipple still swollen and sensitive from their earlier exertions, bringing a soft exclamation from her. Clark smiled, somewhat smugly, his wife thought, and reached up a hand to cup her cheek. He kissed her. "Sorry," he said. "Couldn't resist."

"Um-hmmm." Lois wriggled in his lap, getting more comfortable and then did it again, the movement more calculated this time as she caught the sudden flare of emotion darken in his eyes and heard, his quick intake of breath.

"Is this....." he hissed out another breath, teeth clenching tight as she rocked her hips against the growing ridge of hardness pressing intimately beneath her and smiled down at him. Clark swallowed hard and finished hoarsely, ".....part of your revenge?"

Lois' eyes glittered as she bent her head to kiss him. "I never tell anyone my plans for revenge in advance, farmboy. Spoils the surprise."

"Well, I'm all for surprises."

"There are surprises and surprises."

"Is that a threat, Lane?"

"I don't do threats, Kent. You should know that by now." She ground down hard against him and he moaned, then groaned again, a protest this time, as she straightened, raising herself slightly to avoid that tantalizing, provocative contact. She fixed him with a serious eye. "Is eight hundred thousand really an accurate number on those stolen pencils? Or did you just make that up?"

Clark gave her a frustrated look. *Now* she wanted to talk office supplies? But....okay.....if she wanted to play the uninterested game he could out-gun her. Sure he could. He took a moment to convince his traitorous body that this was, indeed, a viable option to be pursing - something *it* was less than sure about - and, when he was sure his voice would emerge steadily enough from his throat - without even the hint of a tremor - said casually, "Sure it is. You know *this* reporter doesn't make up his facts."

She ignored the mock insinuation in that, looking interested now. "And the Planet? We lose......?"

"About two and a half thousand per annum. Why - ?"

"So," she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and bumped against him, coyly. "wanna frisk me, see if I'm carrying stolen office supplies?"

Clark hitched in an unsteady breath and then sighed. "Lois, I'm not a security guard."

"You could be. Those costumes are easy to hire, you know." A slight gleam came into her eyes. "Ted's around here somewhere. You could borrow his."

Clark snorted. "It wouldn't fit."

"Well, you wouldn't have to wear *all* of it. Or even most of it."

"Lo-is....."

"Well," she backtracked, "what about individual responsibility? You know.....the social conscience of every citizen to make sure that criminals go apprehended? What happened to that famous Super-instinct for justice? I could be a career criminal here. I could be on a crime wave. I could be getting away with a six-pack of fine-lined, double-graded lead."

He looked at her doubtfully. "Are we still talking pencils?"

"Sure."

"Lois, I sincerely doubt that you're hiding anything shaped remotely like a pencil under this," he judged, grinning widely now as he took a slow, lingering glance over her naked curves beneath the blouse.

She arched a brow at him.

His expression turned considering. "On the other hand......" He moved suddenly, surprising her as he scooped her into his arms and rose to his feet, heading briskly for the conference room. "Maybe we should take this somewhere a little more private, so you can frisk me."

"Superman wouldn't steal office supplies," Lois declared virtuously. "It's against his code of honor."

"Code of honor!" He stopped dead in his tracks. "Lois, you make me sound like......like some gung-ho jungle-hopping mercenary."

"Superman wouldn't," she reiterated firmly, with a sniff. "I happen to know that sort of thing is totally beneath him."

He gave her a steady look, narrowing his eyes. "Are you playing this game or not?"

She gave it some thought, then shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure."

"Well, good," he muttered, somewhat peeved now as he started for the conference room again.

"Got nothing better to do," Lois added after a moment, causing a hitch in his stride.

"Besides," he added, almost petulantly, as he pushed open the door to the conference room. "code of honor, or not, Superman's entitled to get frisked if he wants, just like any other citizen. He's got Constitutional Rights too, you know."

Lois giggled, burying her head in his shoulder.

He sighed. "So?"

"So what?" her voice emerged, muffled.

"So......you gonna frisk me or not?"

Lois stifled another fit of giggles at the plaintive note to the request and lifted her head. "Um. *Not* if we're talking pencils," she informed him wickedly as he set her on her feet beside the long meeting table. She snaked a hand down between them to prove her point. "Maybe jumbo markers." Her eyes widened ingenuously as she squeezed what she'd found. "Make that super deluxe jumbo jumbo -- "

Laughing now, he stopped her boasting with a well placed kiss, gathering her close against him as he kicked the door behind him closed with an absent foot.

Moments later, the conference room echoed to the sounds of a quickly indrawn masculine breath and a deeply feminine giggle.