Clara Kent Superwoman

Chapter 32: Christmas

Lex sat at his desk, surrounding by strips of coloured paper, and wondered how he had been persuaded to do this. Then he glanced at the raven haired beauty next to him who was pulling the adhesive strips off the paper and curling them into links in a chain. Her hair was falling gracefully to the side, a dimple on her cheek as her lip curled, and he knew why. Lex had to admit, it was a calming activity. His half of the chain was coming together far slower than Clara's, but he did feel a strange sense of achievement as he saw it grow. Arts and Crafts had never been his forte, even as a child. He'd been a book worm, anything written, books, magazines, comics, and his eyes would be glued to them. Something about the repetitiveness of this task was soothing though, and especially the company.

"There, my side's done, what about you?" Clara asked, turning to smile at him.

Lex looked down, he only had a few strips left, they'd been at it for nearly 45 minutes and he was sure together their chains were over 14 feet long.

"Almost" Lex said, as he stuck the last few links on.

"There" he said, with a sense of triumph.

"Here, let me join mine to yours"

Lex watched as Clara took the last strip of paper and bound his side of the chain to hers, something about it made his insides flutter.

"Now it's done, let's put it on the tree!" Clara said excitedly, and Lex smirked, the simplest things made her happy. While he wasn't a convert to "do it yourself decorations" he did enjoy the time he was spending with her, it was worth a little of his dignity.

Lex gathered one side of the chain while Clara took the other, and headed towards the partially decorated tree. They'd fetched a step ladder from the rather bemused site manager, and Clara had insisted on being the one to climb it to the highest parts of the tree when stringing the lights and tinsel.

"We both know I'm...sturdier...than you are. Plus, I don't think your life insurance policy would cover falling from a ladder" Clara has said cheekily before climbing.

"Fine, but I get to hang the star"

"Deal".

Clara had mentioned it in jest, but in fact Lex knew his policy covered everything but suicide, and the current beneficiary of that and his Will were his father, unless he happened to marry or have children.

Lex had watched with anxiety as she went higher, and also tried not to notice how well her jeans fit her from that angle. It took them only a few hours to string the tree with lights, tinsel, paper chains and to begin hanging baubles.

"At my house we have glass ones we got from my Dad's mother. They don't make them like that anymore. But these are still pretty" said Clara, examining a red and gold bauble before handing it on a branch.

"They took care with their craftsmanship back then. It's part of the reason I tend to buy antiques. Modern industry has done a lot for us but it's also taken some of the magic out of making things."

The baubles were hung up and ribbons added to the ends of branches. Then Clara handed Lex a gold star.

"At my house this is usually my Dad's job. It's an old tradition from my Grandfather but we like it."