Play with me
by Laura Davies aka. BrightFeather
brightfeather1.geo@yahoo.com

Disclaimers and Acknowledgements: These characters aren't mine, I'm just playing with them.  The idea came to me from a certain scene in McClintock.  Any resemblance to any other work of fiction, published or unpublished, is purely coincidental.  Thanks to Helen, Tricia, and Annie for all of the help and encouragement!

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Lois sat on the Kent's back porch and looked over the rain-swept vista.  It had been a tough few days and she was glad that Perry had given both of them a three-day weekend to recover.  Idly, she wondered where her fiance, Clark Kent, had gone.  After all, his Superman patrol time was not for hours, and there currently weren't any world emergencies that required his attention.  She was thankful that he had suggested spending the much-needed weekend in Smallville, where they could relax and ignore Metropolis for a while.  Lazily, Lois leaned back her chair and surveyed the farmyard.  Finally, she spotted Clark.  He was standing on the lowest rail of the pigpen fence, staring meditatively at the muddy ground.  From Jonathan, she knew that the pig had been sold some time ago, and that they had yet to replace it.

An impish smile stole over Lois's face as she contemplated Clark.  From his demeanor, he wasn't really paying any attention whatsoever to his surroundings.  Lois remembered a conversation she and Clark had a few days ago-Clark had informed her that lately having a bit of childlike fun was beneath her.  She wondered if, with his superhearing, she could manage to sneak up on him-just this once. Lois stood up and soundlessly snuck up behind her fiance.  A mischievous smile adorned her visage as, with one hard push, she sent Clark sprawling into the sloppy mud of the pigpen before climbing over the rails to join him.  

Clark sat up and stared at her in shock before he burst out laughing. With one smooth, quick motion, he pulled her feet out from under her and dumped her into the mud as well.  "Now we're even!" he said.  He tried to wipe some of the mud off himself.  Lois giggled as she watched him fight a losing battle; he had only succeeded in making the mud smears larger than ever.

Lois stood up, sat in his lap, and put an arm around him.  "C'mon Clark," she said with a silly grin, "play with me!"  As Lois stood up, Clark rose to his knees.  Before he knew what hit him, Lois had tackled him, pinning him down in the mud as she began to hunt for his most ticklish spots.  She had discovered a suprising fact a few weeks ago.  The invulnerable Man of Steel was ticklish, extremely ticklish.   She ran her fingers along his sides, sending him into spasms of riotous laughter.  Clark lay laughing helplessly for a few moments before beginning to retaliate.  Within a few minutes, she was laughing as helplessly as he.  

Clark caught his breath and stood up, pulling Lois with him.  As Clark helped Lois pull herself out of the mud, she surreptitiously scooped up a handful of sloppy mud. As soon as she regained her footing, she tossed the mud at Clark, hitting him full in the face.  He tried to wipe it off with his sleeve, but only succeeded in making the muddy streaks even worse.  Clark scooped up a handful of his own to toss at her.  Lois saw it coming, and with a shout, turned a somersault in the mud and proceeded to create a mud angel.  Clark dropped the mud and fell over backwards to create an angel of his own.

 Lois carefully climbed out of her complete angel, stood on her head in the middle of the pigsty and began to make faces at Clark.  Clark looked at his fiancee, laughed, and began to make faces back.  Lois soon collapsed out of her headstand.  She stood up and walked over to Clark.  "One legged tag," she yelled, "and you're *it*!"  Lois began hopping madly away from Clark as he stood up and began hopping after her.  It wasn't long before both of them lost their balance and fell headlong into the slippery morass.  

They stood up laughing as Jonathan and Martha came out to investigate the noise.  As Clark's parents reached the pigpen fence, Clark subconsciously reached for Lois's hand and grabbed it before he began to make horrible faces at his parents.  Lois looked at Clark, giggled, and began to try and copy him.  Martha leaned over and whispered something to Jonathan.  He grinned, nodded his head, and walked away.  Lois and Clark resumed their play, tumbling over each other like puppies on the soft, slippery ground.  Soon they were wrestling in the mud, flinging bits of it at one another like children and laughing madly.

Jonathan snuck up behind them and turned on the hose.  He began to hose the mud off them, a small smile crossing his face.  Lois looked at Clark and began to point and laugh at the muddy stream that ran down his nose and dripped off his chin.  Clark looked at Lois and began to reciprocate.  Together, they turned and dived back into the mud.  They turned a few somersaults before getting up and walking over to the fence.  "I'm the creature from the mud lagoon!" Clark shouted at he began to chase Lois though the sticky, clinging mud.  As they raced by his parents, he reached out and tagged Martha on the arm.  "Mom," he yelled, "You're *it*!"  

Martha simply smiled and shook her head.  "C'mon Mom!" Clark called as he and Lois happily splashed in the puddles.  "Play with us!"  Martha burst out laughing at the sight of her usually immaculate son and future daughter-in-law completely covered in mud and splashing in puddles.  A mischievous grin stole over Martha's face as she turned, rushed up to the house, and came back with a small camera.  Before Lois or Clark could object, she took several pictures of their muddy play and stuck the camera in the back pocket of her jeans.

"Come on, kids," Martha said with a soft smile. "It's almost time for lunch."  Lois and Clark looked at each other and grinned before walking over to the fence once again. They were dirty, smelly, and completely happy.  This time, they let Jonathan hose them off before climbing out of the sty.  Clark gave Lois a very wet hug and an equally damp kiss.  "I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," Lois replied, "And there's nobody I'd rather play with."  Lois kissed him as they headed back to the house towards showers and clean clothes.

finis