Part 9
“Mom, I don’t know if I can do that,” Clark answered as he took a bite of his mashed potatoes. He had missed his mother’s cooking. He could see the sorrow in her eyes from the long days at the hospital worrying about Jonathan. She was tired and worried, he could tell just by looking at her. With the dark circles under her eyes and the wrinkles appearing more on her face, Clark was worried about her health as well.
“Your father and I can do this, Clark. Kent families having been running this farm for generations, we are not the first ones to fall on hard times,” Martha explained
“Yes, but I don’t want you to be the last either. I want to help,” Clark responded.
“You are helping. You have always helped. You came back every weekend during college even if it was a couple of hours. I bet a lot of those kids didn’t go back just to have a home-cooked meal,” Martha replied, remembering those days he would come by to help his dad, then eat dinner, and fly off. “And you fly back at least once a week to check in and help us especially since you settled into Metropolis.”
Lois sat there in silence and took in what Martha was saying. So it made sense to Lois that Clark would fly home to check in on his parents. Now she knew what he would do at times when they weren’t together at night.
“Mom, this place is falling apart,” Clark stated. “How can you and dad take care of it? I can do it now and help the two of you.”
“Clark Jerome Kent, you are not giving up on your dream to satisfy your dad,” Martha barked. “Yes, we will not always be here, but that doesn’t mean you give up on your dreams. Do you know how proud we are of what you have become and we don’t mean your second job? You made a life for yourself in Metropolis, found someone special, and WE will not let you give that up.”
“But what about this place,” Clark questioned with an ache inside of him.
“We will keep going as long as we can. Plus Lois has come up with some ideas to help. She thinks we should start going to the local Farmer’s Market and set up a booth. I mean I can try to sell some of my art also. We could do pretty well, plus it would be nice for Jonathan and me to get out for a few hours,” Martha explained as she reached over for Lois’ hand. “Loia has been doing a great job thinking outside the box at helping us.”
Clark looked over to Lois, who had a spoonful of corn halfway to her mouth. She blushed at Martha’s compliment and how both of them were suddenly staring at her.
“How can I save everyone else if I can’t even save the ones I love,” Clark admitted with defeat.
Lois put her spoon down and it finally dawned on her. Clark was scared to death that he would lose the people he loved the most by saving someone else.
“Clark, you can’t save everyone,” Martha told him as she reached for his hand also. “Lois told me about the apartment fire and how you couldn’t save everyone.”
Clark’s shoulders slumped and he looked down at his food. Suddenly he didn’t have an appetite.
“During that same time of the apartment fire, you and dad needed me, and I wasn’t here,” Clark sighed.
“You do realize that your dad and I won’t live forever, right? I mean I hope we are on this Earth long enough to see you and Lois married with children,” Martha stated with impish smile.
Lois covered her mouth with her hand. Yes, she knew Martha wanted grandchildren, but she never really thought of it. How long would it be until Martha started hassling her for grandchildren? Of course, her own mother had asked about this at times.
“Mom, I am so close to having that family of my own that I have wanted for so long. I couldn’t even save that family from the fire, I don’t deserve a family of my own,” he admitted before getting up from the table and running outside.
“Well, that went well,” Martha responded as she took a bite of her corn.
“Should I go after him,” Lois wondered, not being able to finish her meal?
“No, let him go sulk for a bit. I figure he is either by the pond or in his treehouse. After you finish your meal, you can find him in either of those two places,” Martha informed her as she continued her meal. “You need to keep your strength up if you are going to go head to head with him.”
Both of the women continued with their meal in silence. Fifteen minutes later, Lois helped Martha clear the table and put away the food.
“I’ll clean up the kitchen when I came back from talking to Clark,” Lois stated as she put the last of the leftovers in the refrigerator.
“I’m going to turn in for the night. It’s been too long since I slept in my own bed,” Martha said, coming up to Lois. “Thank you for loving my boy.”
“Always,” Lois responded before hugging Martha.
Lois walked outside the back door a few minutes later. The sky was clear with stars shining down everywhere. She walked through the field behind the house and noticed him sitting on the bank of the pond. Quietly she walked up behind him.
“Lois, it’s okay, you don’t have to tiptoe. I hear your heartbeat from miles away; it’s one of the sounds that grounds me,” Clark stated as he looked out to the water glistening.
“You know they love you so much,” Lois remarked as she sat next to him.
“I don’t know why. They had to give up so much for me,” Clark replied with sadness in his voice.
“Because they are your parents, Clark. I have never seen two people love a child as much as they do you,” Lois said full of glee.
“I didn’t ask them to give up anything for me. They gave up their land, their money, almost their livelihood for me,” Clark reminded him. “I never asked for them to do it.”
“No, you didn’t ask. Great, loving parents, just give everything they can to help their children. Don’t you know how lucky you are to have them? I mean they found you in a field and took you and raised you to be the most enduring, loving man. I didn’t have those types of parents, Clark. I’m jealous of you and the love you have from them,” Lois explained as she wiped a tear from her eye. She shifted on the ground trying to get a bit comfortable. She put her knees up and looked out to the glistening water. “My mom and dad didn’t do these sorts of things. I had to raise Lucy on my own after my parents divorced.”
“You don’t talk much about your parents.”
“There isn’t much to talk about. I mean my parents met when they were in college. She was raised in a wealthy family, but she didn’t want to just be a housewife. So she went to college to become a nurse. They met in a chemistry class and stayed together through their years in college. After graduation, she settled in as his nurse at his practice. You know the story of how famous daddy was; and how he ruined it. He never had time for Lucy or me. Once dad left then mom started drinking. After mom found out about his affairs, it was the end. The divorce was nasty. Mom just drank away her days. We were with nannies at times, but most of the time Lucy and I took care of each other.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was so difficult,” he replied putting a hand on her knee. “I guess we grew up differently.”
“You grew up with parents that loved you and wanted only the best for you. You had parents that sold some land to help you go to college. My parents didn’t give me anything other than a migraine. They didn’t come to my college graduation or when I won the National Young Journalism Award. You have parents that want only the best for you, Clark,” Lois announced, “just looking at your mom you can see the love.”
“Mom says the same thing about how I look at you. She says when I talk about you my eyes light up,” Clark stated with a smile.
“I would think that if I had a child I would do anything to help them. Do you think your parents would have worked so hard for you to go to college if they thought you wouldn’t go through with it? Clark, they adore you and are so proud of the man you have become,” Lois informed him with such love.
“But I saw that family in that fire lose everything even their lives. It made me realize that I am so close to having a family of my own that I don’t want to lose what family I have,” Clark murmured. “I can’t lose them.”
“Well, honey, I’m sorry to say, but one day you will. Maybe not tomorrow or the next day, but eventually it will happen. All you have to do is enjoy the life you have today with them. Treasure these moments with them,” Lois explained as she kneeled down in front of him. This way of thinking made her realize something that she didn’t want to think about before. Now it made her believe that she needed to take her own advice.
She decided to go for it.
“Marry me,” she whispered as she looked at him full of love.
“What,” he wondered. “I thought we put that thought aside for a while.”
“We did, but after what happened to your dad, I realized something,” Lois began as she sat on top of him, “I love you and I don’t want to waste another minute not being with you.”
“Are you sure? I mean it’s not something to take lightly,” Clark asked as he grabbed her waist. She was sitting on top of his thighs and she had never felt more alive.
“I’m not. If you stay - I stay,” Lois said as she covered his cheeks with her hands. “I love you and I trust you. I know you think that giving up Superman is best, if that is what you truly believe - I will stand by your side.”
She leaned into him and kissed him. Then she pulled away and looked him into his dark eyes.
“So, will you marry me,” Lois whispered as she kissed him again and then continued kissing his cheek and neck until she nibbled on his ear.
“Yes,” he answered, pulling her closer to him. “But I want to make it official, so I will be right back.”
He lifted her off of him and sat her down gently to where she was sitting a moment earlier. Suddenly he flew off and she sat there on the bank of the pond for a few minutes. She stood after a few minutes and started skipping stones across the pond. About ten minutes later, she turned around when she heard the sound of him landing.
“Where did you fly off to,” she asked as he walked up to her.
He walked up to her and reached into his pocket and lifted the small jewelry box that she had seen before.
“I flew back to Metropolis to grab something I have been wanting to put on you since that night at Centennial Park,” he said opening the black box in front of her. The ring he had picked out months earlier sat before her. The rock glistened from the stars above and Lois teared up a bit as he took the ring out of the box and gently put it on her left ring finger. He pulled her hand up and kissed it where the ring now sat.
“I love you so much,” she stated as she felt so loved by this man.
“I love you too,” he kissed her passionately then pulled back. He stepped back and took his shirt off.
Lois watched in awe at the tone, chiseled muscles and she just wanted to touch him. She thought better of it. Yet she wondered what he was doing when he started unbuckling his jeans.
“Not that I mind you stripping in front of me, but why are you,” Lois questioned as he began to unzip his pants.
“It’s time to cool off,” Clark said pulling one pant leg off and then the other, “you are so irresistible, so it’s either jump pond or fly to the Arctic.”
He stood before her in just his black boxers. She couldn’t help but look at him up and down. She put her hand on his chest and before she could reach over and kiss him, he ran to the dock and jumped into the water.
Lois watched as he went into the water and came up and slicked his wet hair back. The stars shined just enough for her to see his face and the smile across his face. He was about 20 feet away and she could see the outline of his body.
“Are you going to join me or am I going to have to come out and get you,” Clark stated as he splashed water at her.
Lois watched him. She wanted to join him but something was stopping her.
“Turn around,” she told him.
“Turn around? You have to be kidding me. Lois, I just stripped down to my boxers in front of you,” Clark said as he splashed her.
“Just do it,” Lois ordered. “I’m nervous. You make me nervous.”
“You do realize I have x-ray vision, so if I wanted to see you, I could have any time I wanted,” Clark pointed out as he took three steps forward.
“Just turn around,” she ordered him as she put her hands on her hips. “I’m not getting into the water without you turning around.”
Before Lois could step away, Clark turned around in the water. She lifted her shirt over her head and removed her jean shorts. Lois kept removing clothing and as she stepped into the water, Clark stepped back one step.
“You know Lois, I don’t know why you are so nervous, I have seen you wear less. The day you showed up here in Smallville, you were only wearing my shirt,” Clark remembered as he slicked his hair back again.
He knew she was close, he could hear her heartbeat and hear her get into the water.
“I know, but sometimes even I get a little shy with you,” Lois whispered in his ear after she came up from the water.
Clark turned around and pulled her to him. He looked down briefly and realized something.
“Lois, where are your clothes,” Clark wondered as he could feel her body against him. He looked across the water and zoomed into where she was standing minutes ago. He saw her bra and panty set on the top of her other clothes that were next to his.
“It’s not skinny dipping unless you are without clothes,” Lois laughed as she put her arms around his neck.
“I’m the luckiest guy around,” Clark muttered as he kissed her sweetly.
She enjoyed the feel of his lips on hers and how she felt in her arms. Why did it take her so long to see him? A few minutes later when they pulled apart, she put her head on his shoulder. The only sound out in the water was the wind and the crickets.
“Let’s get married right here,” she murmured as she felt a shiver through her body.
“Right here? In the water, I’m not sure that will work,” he laughed as his head fell back.
“I mean on the farm, Clark,” Lois snuggled closer to him, slightly cold.
“Are you cold,” he asked pulling her closer.
“I guess I didn’t realize how cold the water would be out here,” Lois replied, pulling away slightly to look at his face.
He pulled her away slightly, then lowered his head, suddenly Lois could feel the water temperature warm up slightly. She put her head back and laughed at the antics of the man she loved.
“Did you just use your heat vision to warm up the water,” she wondered as she didn’t feel that coldness anymore.
“I was going to heat you up, but figured I didn’t need to,” he smiled smugly.
“No, being with you gets me hot enough,” she said before kissing him.
Their lips danced briefly before Lois opened her mouth slightly to allow Clark’s tongue inside. He could feel her so close to him, the feel of her naked breasts against his chest. He was starting to become even more turned on, his entire body reacting to Lois in his arms. Before they went too far with their exploration as his hands began to roam her body, he pulled back.
She looked at him for a moment when he pulled back. He was trying to catch his breath, which made Lois feel liberated. She made Superman breathless. She covered his cheek with her hand and he turned into her hand.
“I love you so much,” Lois admitted with a smile. “I can’t wait to be your wife.”
“Let’s do it. Let’s get married on the farm,” Clark commented, “but what about Perry and Jimmy? They should really be here.”
“Let’s have a ceremony here with your family and friends from Smallville, then once things are settled we have a celebration in Metropolis. Or we can ask Superman to fly Perry and Jimmy out here.”
“You have all the answers, don’t you,” he said, kissing her briefly.
It was settled, they would get married as soon as they could in Smallville. They had to talk to Martha and figure out the details. But Clark Kent and Lois Lane would be married on the Kent Farm within the week.
