Date-ja Vu

By Cindy Ray (rray@poci.amis.com)

Summary: On a date with Dan Scardino, Lois can't get Clark out of
her mind.

In Which Pooh and Piglet almost see a woozle...

***

Lois watched the door close behind her and slowly sank onto the
small, upholstered chair. Covering her face with her hands she
took a deep breath. *Get a grip, girl,* she firmly told herself.
*You're on a date with a sexy guy, one who thinks you're great
and has been very attentive. What's your problem?* Unfortunately,
Lois didn't have to think hard or long to figure out the answer
to that one. Since the whole situation with Lex last year she had
busied herself at work, not wanting to open herself to that kind
of humiliation again. She grimaced. *Lois Lane, prize winning
investigative reporter, total failure at relationships...* Why,
even Clark had known more about Lex than she had. Of course she
hadn't listened when he'd tried to warn her, which made her
humiliation all the more complete. And set in stone her
resolution not to date at all for a very long time...

Which was why Clark's statement that he wanted her to go out on a
date with him had thrown her so badly. True, they had been
working together more closely than ever, and spending more of
their free time together, but she had so firmly closed herself
off to the idea of having another relationship that she had been
completely surprised, and not a little confused. Surprised by the
unexpectedness of it, and confused by how inviting the idea had
seemed, once she actually had given it some thought. And the
date, once it had happened, well it had been almost too good to
be true. Which was making _this_ particular evening even harder.
*Ok, pull yourself together, Lane. You've been in here long
enough, and I wouldn't put it past Scardino to come barging in,
even if it _is_ the ladies room.* With a deep sigh Lois stood up,
checked her reflection in the mirror, opened the door, and slowly
walked back to her waiting date.

It would have been hard to miss the look of appreciation in
Scardino's eyes as Lois walked back up to the table. Lois didn't
mind being looked at appreciatively, but he almost made her feel
like she should have chosen a dress that was a little less
revealing.

"Lois, are you ok? I was starting to worry about you."

Lois almost laughed at the mental image of Scardino storming the
ladies room. "I'm fine, thanks. Still a little tired from
everything that's happened, though. It's not every day one of my
closest friends tries to kill me."

"If you're too tired to do this we could just order some takeout
and eat it at your apartment..." Scardino offered.

"Oh, no," Lois said hastily. Somehow she just couldn't see eating
takeout at her apartment with Scardino as a comfortable
situation. This way, at least, they were in a public place.
"Eating is something I can always do, no matter how tired I am.
And here I won't have to do the dishes, right?"

As the waiter approached and took their order, Lois mentally
reassured herself that this date was the right thing to be doing.
*So what if I haven't known him that long. He's a nice guy, he's
helped me out of a couple of tight spots in the last few weeks,
_he's_ never run out on me..." All too aware of where that last
thought was leading, Lois quickly asked Scardino, "So how long
are you going to be in Metropolis?"

"Well, you remember I told you that originally I was here without
agency sanction, right? But when they heard about some of the
things going on here in Metropolis, they decided maybe it wasn't
such a bad idea to leave me here for a while. They haven't
specified a time frame yet, which is just fine with me...it's
nice to be in a place with no memories, if you know what I
mean."

"Yeah", said Lois slowly. "Last fall Cl...a close friend of mine
was shot. Superman was able to save him, but for two days I
thought he was dead." Lois' eyes clouded over with the memory. "I
don't know what I would have done..."

Fortunately for Lois, their food arrived just then. *I will NOT
remember how I felt when I thought Clark was dead... I'm mad at
him, and I'm going to stay that way for a while.* She picked up
her fork and attacked her pasta as if it were Clark. *And I
_will_ enjoy this date, whether or not I have a good time.*

Had Lois been asked later what she and Scardino had talked about
at dinner, she would have been hard pressed to come up with more
than one or two things. The whole evening had been a mental blur.
Trying not to mentally compare the whole evening with her date
with Clark, trying not to wonder what he was doing, trying not to
wonder if he was hurting as much as she was. When Scardino asked
Lois what she wanted for dessert, she assured him that she
_never_ had dessert, and was much too tired to start on this
particular evening. She was relieved when he picked up on this
not-to-subtle hint, and offered to take her home.

As they walked out to his car, Lois was surprised to see that it
was not yet 11:00. Funny that she was so tired, it was still
pretty early. But that was yet another comparison she was not
going to make. Instead, she concentrated on making small talk on
the brief ride back to her apartment, and as he walked her to her
door. *I hate this,* she thought, as she slowly turned the key in
the lock. *Without a doubt this has to be one of life's most
awkward moments. The last minute of the first date.* As she
opened the door and stood in the doorway, holding tightly to the
door, she had an overwhelming sense of deja vu. This was exactly
the way she had held the door the night of her date with Clark.
The only difference was that with Scardino, she was afraid that
if she let him in it would take forever to get him to leave. With
Clark that night, she had been afraid that if she let him in, she
wouldn't _want_ him to leave.

"Thanks for the dinner, Lois," said Scardino "I haven't enjoyed
myself so much in a long time. Maybe we can do it again
sometime."

"Yeah...maybe," Lois said unenthusiastically. "Goodnight,
Daniel."

He bent forward to kiss her, but she had already turned towards
the apartment, and he just managed to brush her cheek. *So that's
the score...* he thought as he walked down the hall.

Lois locked the door behind her and slowly made her way into the
bedroom. Taking off her dress and heels she dropped them in a
pile and slipped into a soft brown robe. She tied the belt
tightly as she walked into the kitchen, opened to freezer, and
took out the open tub of Rocky Road ice cream. Sitting down at
the table, she absent mindedly took one bite, then another. To
her surprise, the ice cream didn't seem to make her feel any
better. *Darn that Clark Kent,* she thought angrily. *He's ruined
everything.* She shoved the ice cream back into the freezer,
slammed the door, and went back into her bedroom. Throwing
herself down on the bed, she pounded her pillow until her arms
were tired, then she gave in and wept.

***

Outside her bedroom window a red cape fluttered in the slight
breeze. Clark watched Lois weep with anguish in his eyes.
Obviously her date with Scardino hadn't been too great, that much
was a relief. But it wasn't too hard to guess what was wrong now,
and the knowledge that he had caused this was unbearable.
Unfortunately, the only solution he could think of was to tell
her the truth, the _whole_ truth. As much as he wanted to, he
still hadn't figured out how to do it. He could tell, though,
watching Lois fall asleep with a tear-stained face, that he'd
better figure something out soon. If he wanted Lois in his life
forever, and he did, he was running out of time...

THE END

(date-jv.txt)