Happy birthday, Lieta!
Sorry this is late [see FDK reply for why]!
Thanks to Alisha, Beth and Nancy as always.
Made extra good progress yesterday - four chapters done [2 were 2/3 done already - from when I wrote them in... July? had to edit/expand but that was pretty easy] *and* didn't add any chapters to my master chapter list [when I started posting daily, it was at an estimated 125 total - not so much now]. So I made progress and didn't just tread water! I think my current chapter outline list is a pretty good one and I can't imagine adding more than 1 or maybe 2 more depending on how certain conversations/events actually play out. /whew/ I *need* to be done by Christmas since DH is taking the next week off. If I stick with my schedule I made, I should be - and it would still be posted by the end of the year!
Thanks to
The Ultimate, Definitive Guide to Clark Kent\'s Ties for
Clark\'s tie .
Last time:
Lois
Her tears were coming fast and furious. "For a while, I held onto that, hoping that it meant what I thought it did, but when I saw him – the day he told me you were pregnant – even though he didn't give me details or anything remotely like that – I knew we were never going to happen. Not because of the baby or because he... 'cheated'..." She used air quotes. "...on me with you or anything like that, but I could see it. I've known Clark since we were babies. I see it in the way he looks at you, the way he holds you, the way he loves your sons, the way you danced together at Rachel and Pete's wedding... I don’t think he even realizes it and I don’t know if you do or not, but he loves you. He loves you in a way that he never loved me. I believe him when he says he never lied about his feelings for me, but it's different. I was so scared that first semester that he'd realize what was already happening between you two. He promised me that there wasn't anything going on and I believed him then and I do now, but the two of you..."
She shook her head slightly. "The two of you were always a better match than the two of us. It's taken a lot of soul searching for me to reach the point where I can accept that. And if he ever came to me and you two were truly over and wanted to try again, I might, but I don't think he will. Not even if you died or something. What we had was great in high school, but I don't know that it would have really lasted like we thought it would. I hope it would have – that it could have grown and matured and developed, but there's no way to know. And I've discovered that, really, at heart, I'm a small town girl, but Clark will fit in well here in the city – at the Planet. Much better than I ever would though I would have followed him in heartbeat."
She swiped at her cheeks again. "Don't give up on him yet," she said as she stood. "He loves you. He'd go to the ends of the earth to protect you and your kids. He doesn't realize it yet, though." She started towards the door and the stopped, turning back to look at me. "Take care of him," she said quietly. "At some point, something is going to happen that's going to shatter his world to pieces and he'll realize how much he *needs* you. I don't know what it's going to be – something happening to one of the kids that doesn't seem like it can be fixed, you leaving or kicking him out when the five years is up, but something is going to happen to tear his world to bits and he's going to need your help to put it back together. I just hope he realizes that before it's too late. You're the best thing that ever happened to him, even if he's too big a lunkhead to see it."
And she left.
*~*124*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
It scared me a bit to realize that Lana stayed behind when Henderson and I left our room. It took all of my willpower to not listen in, but Henderson captured my attention distracting me from whatever my ex-girlfriend might be saying to my wife.
Ten minutes later, Lana made it downstairs. Henderson took her aside and showed her some pictures on his PDA. She seemed to identify something that they later told us was the tattoo pattern from the guy who tried to take Christopher. Maybe it would help, but I wasn't holding my breath.
Things quieted down, though there was additional security and there would be for a while.
I pulled out my laptop and logged into the Daily Planet archives, searching for the stories on the Toyman kidnapper.
The weird thing was that none of the kids remembered anything about where they were held or anything like that.
The names of all of the families were in the paper, though not all the names of the kids had been released. The one kid who'd gotten away and not successfully kidnapped later was mentioned but never by name. That was a relief. Even if the story got out, it looked like Christopher's name might stay out of it.
Lois wandered into the kitchen a few minutes after I realized that.
"Where is everyone?" she asked, baby monitor in her hand. "The boys are still sleeping. Scott's up there with Christopher."
"Lana identified the tattoo pattern. Henderson said they could go and would be in touch if they needed anything else. He and most of the police left, but the house is still locked down. Parents and Jimmy are watching a movie. I'm researching the Toyman."
"What'd you find?" she asked, sliding on to one of the stools.
"Not much," I sighed. "None of the kids remember anything about their time while they were gone."
"Perry said he wanted us to start coming up with our own stories. Catching the bastard would certainly do that."
Clark nodded. "Yes, it would. But how, exactly, do you propose we do that? The only thing I've come up with is absolutely not happening."
"What's that?"
"Christopher as bait was the only thing I could think of and there's no way in hell that's happening."
"I agree," she said. "I was thinking we find out where the kids were taken, where the payoffs were made, where the kids were released and see if we can find a pattern or something."
"It's worth a shot."
I thought for a minute and looked around to make sure no one else was around, before scribbling all the information about each kidnapping on a piece of paper.
"There."
She picked it up, staring at it for a long moment. "Nothing jumps out at me," she said with a sigh.
"Me either."
She tapped the pencil against her chin. "There's something here, but don't ask me what it is. Where's Charlie Epps when you need him?"
I chuckled. Of course – the mathematician from 'Numb3rs'. "CBS, Friday nights. Or in the first two 'Santa Clause' movies."
She glared at me. "We did a 'Numb3rs' thing in one of my classes my senior year in high school. I forget what episode it was based on, but it was cool. And you've said the baseball stat thing was cool too."
"Yeah, it was." I leaned back. "Nothing coming to you either?" I asked as she continued to stare at the notepad.
"No." She pushed it away from her. "I'll keep thinking about it."
"What did you and Lana talk about?" I asked suddenly.
She didn't answer for a long moment. "Nothing I want to talk about, but don't worry. There's no hit out on her or anything. You didn't listen in?"
She seemed to be holding her breath until I shook my head. "I was tempted, but I didn't. Henderson was talking to me anyway."
"Would you have if he hadn't been?"
"I don't think so. Though I did keep an ear out for shouting and hair pulling."
"It was nothing like that." She sighed. "She apologized for how she acted when we lived in the dorms, said a couple other really interesting things and left. That's it."
"What kind of things?"
"I'm not telling you. It's between me and her. Maybe someday I'll tell you but not today."
We heard voices coming up the stairs.
"Guess the movie's over," she said. "Aren't you on dinner duty tonight?"
"Yeah. I better get it started."
I snapped my laptop shut and started the stir fry.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I went into the living room but watched Clark carefully, if surreptitiously, the rest of the day, contemplating what Lana had told me.
Did Clark really love me and just not realize it?
I thought Lana believed that, but I didn't know that it was true.
"Mommy?" The voice came through the baby monitor and I waggled it in Clark's direction so he'd know I was on my way to get Christopher and he didn't need to worry about it. He nodded and turned back to his stir fry.
I hurried through the house, punching my code in next to the door. "Hey, how was your nap?" I asked him.
"Goo'."
I lay down on the bed next to him as he yawned and stretched.
"Wa' Ja' Ja'?" he asked.
"Sure." He was a bear if he didn’t wake up on his terms. Usually that just meant not making him get right up when he woke up. He needed to wake up more slowly. He sighed. "Whe' Daddy?"
"He's making dinner," I told him.
"Actually, I thought I'd check on my favorite three-year-old."
I looked up, surprised.
"Mom's finishing dinner," he told me as he sat down on the other side of the bed.
"Daddy, I no' t'ree ye'. I t'o!" Christopher giggled as Clark tickled him.
"Well, you're big enough to be three."
He stretched out and Christopher snuggled in next to him.
We watched for a few minutes, before I broached a subject that had been on my mind off and on for over a year.
"Have you thought any more about that?" I asked quietly, nodding towards the movie.
He nodded. "Yeah. I have. But I don't think I'd seriously consider it until the whole Navance thing is over."
"Think about today though," I pointed out. "You could have left and changed into a costume and flown around looking for him. And maybe caught the guy."
"Maybe," he said. "But there's no way to know."
"I just remembered you saying once, you wouldn't do anything until after college and college is over now..." My voice trailed off.
"But the risk is still too great with everything else," he replied. "Maybe once we're settled in at the Planet or something, but I don't think I'd seriously consider it until the threat is gone."
I nodded. "Okay."
Clark pulled his cell phone off his belt a minute later when it started buzzing. He looked at it – he'd come a long way from his text messaging antipathy. He still didn't like it, but he was willing to accept it was a part of his life.
He reached for the remote sitting on the bed and stopped Incredibles. "Dinner's ready."
I heard Nate starting to stir in the other room. "I'll get Nate if you take this little guy down."
"I no' liddle, Mommy," Christopher squealed as Clark swung him onto his shoulder.
I laughed as I headed into the other room.
The rest of the evening and the next day passed without incident. The press hadn't gotten wind about us – though there was a blurb about an attempted abduction after graduation in the Daily Planet, but it didn't garner much attention.
I could only hope Perry would forgive us if the full story ever came out.
Same with Latislan.
There was another civil war or something beginning there again. I'd gotten my hopes up a couple times before when protests had gotten out of hand – they'd even made it into the capital building once before they were subdued – and I'd learned not to hope too much.
I never thought I'd *actually* wish someone dead, but I did.
Monday morning found both of us dressed in suits as we got ready for our first official day at work. Dress code for interns was a bit more lax than for reporters – besides we were professionals now.
"Is this straight?" Clark asked. "I usually have better luck with regular ties than bow ties, but this knot just doesn’t want to cooperate today."
I raised an eyebrow when he turned around.
"What?"
"Who helped you pick that tie out?" I couldn't even begin to describe it. Yellows, blues, whites, abstract patterns...
"My mom did when we went shopping the other day." He flipped it up slightly so he could look at it. "You don't like it?"
I shrugged. "Somehow, it suits you. I don't think it suits anyone else, so I don't know why they made it but..." I sighed. "You're right. The knot looks funny."
He tugged on it and started over. Again. I knew I'd seen him do that at least twice already while I was finishing my make-up.
"And what's with the glasses? Are you going to wear them more regularly now?" He'd worn glasses from time to time for as long as I'd known him.
"I was thinking about it last night. If I ever do the Incredibles thing, I don't think I'd want to wear a mask. It says there's something to hide. There'd already be plenty of suspicion that I had some sort of other identity, but no one would expect a super to need glasses. My parents both have glasses and I've worn them sometimes anyway since I was learning to control all the stuff I can do with my eyes."
"So it's part of a long-term disguise or something?" Personally, I thought they looked great, but I wasn't about to tell him that.
"Something like that," he said, finishing retying his tie. "How's that?"
I eyed it critically. "It's straight and that’s about all I’m going to give it. You clean up pretty good, Kent."
He smiled at me – one of those thousand watt smiles that should be illegal or would light up all of Metropolis if they could figure out how to harness the power. "You, too, Kent."
I glanced down at my understated black suit and bright blue camisole underneath it. "Thanks," I said, a thought running through my head again.
"What?"
I sighed. "I just wish I'd been able to at least hyphenate my last name, that's all. I always dreamed of seeing the 'Lois Lane' byline, but 'Lois Lane-Kent' would be okay, too. Don't get me wrong – it's not like I hate seeing 'Lois Kent' or anything – I just hate what it represents. That I couldn't even hyphenate my last name because it might mean that you weren't Christopher's dad. And even after this is all over, I wouldn't go back to Lois Lane because of the boys and all, but I just wish that 'Lane' was part of my professional name at least, that's all." Tears threatened for a moment.
"Hey, come here."
It was the first time he'd held me in his arms when someone else wasn't around in a very long time; the first time I remembered him intentionally touching me when we weren't in front of anyone since the day before Nate's surgery. Of course, I'd told him not to, but that didn't mean I didn't miss it.
"It's okay," he said. "You didn't offend me or anything like that – I completely understand. You told me the week we met that you'd hyphenate when you got married but would probably stay 'Lois Lane' for professional purposes. That plan went out the window a long time ago."
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
She hadn't put her shoes on yet and she fit right under my chin. There were a lot of things I couldn't do anything about but maybe I could do something about that. I'd have to call Jill or Dan or even Jack and then talk to Perry depending on what they said.
I'd missed being close to her like this, but I'd respected her wishes – at least consciously. There'd been a couple of times when I woke up to find myself spooned behind her, but for the most part I hadn't touched her when we were alone together since she'd told me in no uncertain terms that there was no reason for that. I refused to delve any deeper into why I felt like that – except that she was my friend and I enjoyed being with her, being close to her.
"Happy Birthday," I said quietly. "You've had quite a birthday weekend – graduation, starting your new job on your birthday."
"Having my son almost kidnapped and then rescued by your ex."
"But he's safe. And he's going to stay safe. Your dad's keeping security high on him."
"I know."
I heard the patter of little feet heading our way. "We've got company coming." But I didn't let her go.
"Mommy? Daddy? I' mo'nin' ye'?"
We both laughed.
"Yes, it's morning, bud. Remember, it's Mom and Dad's first day at work." She didn't move from my arms as she spoke and I had the feeling she was enjoying it as much as I was.
So why had I let it happen?
Why hadn't I... not *forced* the issue, but forced the issue. Held her hand or hugged her or spooned with her at night – on purpose.
We'd avoided the question of 'us' since right after the surgery. Neither of us brought it up; we avoided any mention of it at all, except to mention that we couldn’t wait for it all to be over. I didn't think Lois meant our marriage, except that she would be out of a marriage with a guy who didn't love her the way she needed to be loved. I thought we both just meant that we couldn’t wait for the specter of Navance's paternity claims hanging over our heads to be gone.
I didn't think either of us wanted to think any deeper than that – of what was going to happen afterwards.
For Christopher to be safe.
"I hung'y," Christopher said, wiggling his way in between us. I was sure he had no clue what he was interrupting.
I finally let go of Lois and picked him up. "Well, let's go get something to eat."
"I'll get Nate," Lois said, heading towards that room. "I'll feed him downstairs. Would you mind tossing some frozen pancakes in for me?"
"Sure," I called over my shoulder.
Surely I could do better than frozen pancakes though.
I knew I didn't have long, but no one else was around. I set Christopher down in the living room with PBS Kids on and told him I'd call him when breakfast was ready.
I zipped around the kitchen and by the time Lois made it downstairs with Nate, scrambled eggs and bacon were almost done and real pancakes were being flipped.
"You didn't have to do this," she told me. "And how'd you have time?"
"I, uh, zipped around," I told her.
"Well, Jessica's on her way down, so no more zipping."
"I wouldn't have if she'd been close and you know it."
My parents had left for Smallville the day before and Sam had some kind of meeting early so it was just the four of us – and Jessica – in the house. Vicki wouldn’t be up until later – I still wasn't sure exactly what she did all day, but the house was always clean so I guessed that was a big part of it.
Lois took her suit jacket off and situated the blanket and Nate so he could nurse while she ate. "I need to pack a lunch, too," she said.
I surprised myself when I said, "Nope. I'm taking you out to lunch today to celebrate graduation and your birthday and jobs and all that. The two of us."
"You are?" She looked surprised, too.
I nodded. "Yep."
She looked at me for a long minute. "Then I look forward to it."
*****
TBC
