Just for you Michael
.
Thanks again to Kathy! Even though she made me rewrite chunks of this...
Last time
Lois reached out with both of her hands and covered his. "We know it's sudden, Daddy, but it's honestly what we both want."
Jonathan stared at her face for a long moment before nodding. "Then we're happy for you." He stood and pulled her into a big hug. She rested her head on his chest. She'd always felt so safe in her daddy's arms. It was one of several reasons she'd come home after everything with Lex. "We love you, little girl."
Tears filled her eyes at the term of endearment. He hadn’t called her that in a long time. "I love you, too, Daddy. And I'm so glad that you're happy for us. We're happy about this. I promise."
"I'm so glad, Princess." His arms tightened around her. "My little girl's wedding day," he whispered. "Not exactly how I pictured it, but we are happy for you."
"Thank you. I'm sorry you didn't get to walk me down the aisle and everything."
"You're happy. That's the most important thing."
"We talked a bit about having a real wedding soon," she told him, not moving from the safety of his embrace.
"Then it would be my honor to give you away. But if you don't, I'm just happy that you're happy."
Tears filled Lois' eyes. She should have known they'd understand.
They were the world's best parents after all.
*~*8*~*Clark could see the tears welling up in Jonathan's eyes as he stood and pulled Lois into a bear hug. Before he knew what was happening, Martha was standing behind him, her arms around his shoulders.
"I couldn't ask for anyone better for my little girl," she whispered. "But you better treat her right or you'll answer to me."
He nodded. "Don't worry. I'll do my best to take care of her for the rest of my life."
"Welcome to the family," she said softly. "We're happy to have you."
He could see Lois looking at him from her father's arms. She smiled at him, tears in her eyes as she talked quietly to her dad.
"No ring for you?" Martha asked.
He shook his head. "Not yet. We'll get one before too long."
Martha nodded thoughtfully before squeezing his shoulders. "Give those the equivalent of 300 degrees for about an hour, would ya?"
Clark chuckled. "Sure. I need a metal box though – otherwise the outside will brown and the inside'll be a mess."
Martha picked up the bread box. Obviously homemade – only because it was so unconventional – it was made of metal and would suit his purpose nicely.
"Perfect." He put the first Stromboli in and heated the box with his eyes. A minute later, he pulled it out and set it on a cookies sheet on the table. He repeated the process and, by then, the third was ready to bake.
By the time he finished that one, Martha had returned, pulling Lois to the side to whisper something to her and hand her something Clark couldn't see. Lois nodded and slipped whatever it was into the pocket of her jeans.
Her well-worn, oft-washed jeans that clung to her curves like a second skin.
Why exactly were they eating dinner in Kansas anyway?
And why did he feel like he was a teenager again? About to get caught making out with girlfriend on the couch in her parents' basement?
Lois was his *wife*. And her parents knew that now. So why did he feel like all he could do was whisper a few innuendos in her ear while they weren't looking or share longing glances across the kitchen? Should he be able to hold her hand or even kiss her whenever he wanted? And as he watched her brow furrowed in concentration and her bottom lip stuck between her teeth, he wanted to.
He glanced over to see Martha and Jonathan busy setting the table and he moved quickly towards Lois, resting his hands on either of her hips.
"Hi," he said quietly before leaning down to kiss her softly. "I've wanted to do that for a while now."
She rested her hands on his arms before stretching to kiss him again. "I'm glad you did."
He looked over at her parents again. They were studying the table carefully but the grins they were both trying to hide told him that they hadn't missed a thing. He slid his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. He whispered in her ear, "Would your parents be offended if we skipped dessert?"
"I don't care," she whispered back. "But I can't eat as fast as you and I have a feeling I'm going to need my strength for later, so we have to have dinner and you can't inhale your food."
He grinned down at her. "Deal."
They both moved back and he held her hand as they walked the few steps to the table.
"So no guests tonight?" he asked as they began serving the Stromboli and the corn on the cob Martha had whipped up at some point.
Martha shook her head. "Not tonight. The Morrises will be here tomorrow though, Lois. I'm sure they'll be disappointed you're not here."
Lois snorted. "You mean, Donny won't be able to stalk me in my own home while his parents go do whatever they want because I'm 'keeping an eye on him'."
Martha and Jonathan both laughed at that. "True," Jonathan said, "but they really do like you."
"Well, now Donny can have a crush on Lucy," Lois told them, taking a big bite of her Stromboli.
"You know," Clark said thoughtfully. "I still haven't actually met the elusive Lucy."
"Well, you're not going to tonight," Lois informed him. "We're not staying until she gets home – she can't know we flew the S-express out here."
"S-express?" the three of them asked in unison.
She rolled her eyes. "You got a better name for Superman Airlines?"
"Good point." Clark helped himself to another ear of corn. "You know, though, Christmas is coming up soon. We always spend it at Gramps' cabin in northern New Troy. I know my parents don't know about everything yet – and neither does Gramps – but I bet he'd love to have all of you join us. He's mentioned it in the past – in the generic 'Clark's wife's family' sense, anyway."
"That's very generous, Clark, but I don’t know..." Martha's voice trailed off as she looked at Jonathan.
"If you show me how to do the chores around here, I'd be happy to fly back for a bit each day to do them," Clark insisted. He knew instinctively that it would be hard for Lois to be away from her family at Christmas – he'd seen some of the pictures around the house that indicated as much – but he also didn’t want to miss Christmas with his family. But then something else occurred to him. "Unless you have visitors around then, of course," he finished.
Martha shook her head. "No, we close from December 23rd through January 2nd every year so that's not an issue."
"And don't worry about airfare either," he told them. "The S-express will take care of it. Superman, uh, owes me a favor," he added with a wink. "That way Lucy will have no idea what's really going on."
Martha and Jonathan exchanged another look. "We'll let you know," Jonathan promised. "I bet we could get Josh Irig to look after the place if we needed to."
Clark nodded, realizing he was probably pushing too hard without it being an official invitation from his grandpa.
They chatted amiably about a variety of topics for the rest of the meal. The... tension – was that the right word? – between himself and Lois was nearly palatable to him. Every time her fingers brushed against his while passing something or her knee bumped his under the table or...
She patted his leg telling her parents how proud of him she was when it came to helping stop the tsunami.
Unresolved sexual tension.
Wasn't that what they called it when the leads on a television show kept avoiding a relationship with each other for one reason or another?
Whatever it was, surely it would be time to leave soon and... resolve it. Right?
He took a deep, calming breath and tried to get his mind off what was surely coming when they flew home.
He couldn't have imagined this outcome from a day that started so horribly at the continued clean-up of the crash in western New Troy. He was so glad Star had come to see them that morning and pushed them this direction.
And before long he'd get to fly off with his *wife* to see exactly what life married to Lois *Lane* would be like.
*****
TBC
