Clark landed at the Fortress, the events of the day weighing heavily on his heart.
He knew that Lois was the proverbial ‘one,' yet he had been keeping her at a distance. As Chloe had more than once astutely noted, he had probably been not only trying to protect his secret, but his heart. He had been so devastated by what had happened to Lana, and it terrified him to think that Lois could be used the same way…
And yet, he knew that he had kept Lana at a distance for so long not just because he wanted to keep her safe, but when he was honest with himself, because he hadn’t been sure she really was who he was meant to be with.
But with Lois—his heart had known the truth far longer than his head.
Now, she needed to know the other truth, about him. Her life was at stake, and no secret was worth protecting more than Lois’ life.
Besides, she was a part of him now, forever bonded by the child they had created. She had every right to know the truth.
“Jor-El, I need your guidance,” Clark cried out to the large, crystalline cave.
“What is it, my son?” came Jor-El’s voice, echoing in the cavernous Fortress all around Clark.
“Lois… she’s pregnant with my child. I need to know if there is any danger for her, as a human, to carry a Kryptonian baby.”
“Kal-El, though you have a greater destiny, I am proud that our heritage will live on, here on Earth. However, I cannot yet determine the safety of the mother. You will have to bring her here to allow me to examine her and the baby.”
Clark nodded, resigning himself to what he knew must be done. “I will have to tell her everything first. I don’t want to overwhelm her. But I will bring her here to you, as soon as I can.”
~L&C~
The next morning, Lois woke up to the worst morning sickness she could ever imagine.
Her stomach heaved, and she felt clammy and dizzy. She made it to the bathroom before she hurled, though she felt like she couldn’t get back up on her own. Lois leaned against the cool tile of the bathroom wall, waiting until the room stopped spinning.
She had noticed mild morning sickness over the last week or so, though she had chalked it up to her sugar problem. Still, nothing this intense had bothered her before.
“Well, that was unexpected,” she said softly, patting her barely existent baby belly. “What are you doing to me, kid?”
She tried to stand up, grabbing onto the sink for support. Glancing at herself in the mirror, Lois was worried by how sallow her skin appeared. She heard a knock at her front door, and called over her shoulder, “Be there in a minute.”
But she was still too dizzy to leave the bathroom. “Okay, Lane, you can do this,” she coached herself.
She took a few steadying breaths, and then headed towards the front door. She got as far as the sofa, which she grabbed onto for support, feeling like she’d either puke or faint.
“Door’s open,” she eventually said, heading over to sit on the couch until she felt less dizzy.
“Lois, are you okay?” said Clark in alarm hurrying over to her, the bagels in his hand he had brought for breakfast now forgotten.
“Not going to lie to you, Smallville. I’ve felt better,” she said, a wan smile on her face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked solicitously, hovering over her worriedly.
“Just… an upset stomach,” she said vaguely, not looking at him.
“I brought you bagels,” Clark offered, rather apologetically. “But I guess they are out of the question?”
She simply nodded her head.
Clark’s expression filled with more concern. He sat down next to Lois, a look of immense guilt on his features. “I’m so sorry, Lois,” he said at last, gaining a look of wary puzzlement from her.
“For what? I’m just not feeling on my a-game, that’s all. No big deal,” she tried to say lightly, laying her head back on the couch. Her actions belied her words; she still felt dizzy and a little nauseated. Then suddenly, there was a sharp pain in her abdomen. It forced her to sit up, bending over the pain in her belly, as panic seized through her.
“Lois? What’s wrong?” Clark asked in alarm, his hand on her shoulder.
She looked up at him, feeling completely helpless and freaked out. Lois saw Clark’s eyes widen in concern, and she knew that she had to tell him. The pain was too intense… was she going to die? She hesitated only a moment, but another wrench of pain tore through her, forcing the truth out of her. “I’m pregnant,” she whispered, her face contorted in agony.
~L&C~
Clark panicked and immediately whisked her away to the Fortress, not caring that he would have a lot to explain. The look on Lois’ face trumped all other concerns. He had to know that she would be all right.
“Clark, what happened?” she asked, her voice shaking with uncertainty as her eyes took in the snowy confines of the Fortress. She hadn’t exactly passed out, but the trip to the Fortress had obviously disoriented her.
She was cradled in his arms, and he felt anguish tear through him, not knowing where to begin.
“Lois, I promise I will explain. I knew about the baby. I brought you here—“
“Lay the mother down, Kal-El, and I will examine her and the baby’s condition,” came the echoing voice of Jor-El.
“Clark? Where are we?” Lois looked up at him, curiosity and maybe a bit of fear etched on her features.
Clark’s eyes sought hers, hoping to reassure her. “Lois, do you trust me?”
Her features softened just a bit, even as he could see that she was still concerned over what was happening. But her faith in him outweighed her fear. She eventually nodded, and he squeezed her hand lightly in return. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise, Lois,” he tried to say reassuringly, trying to calm her. He felt rushed and worried about overwhelming Lois with the truth. Clark had wanted to tell her everything over a simple breakfast of bagels. But her condition had forced him to act, to bring her here.
“Clark, what is going on? Where are we? Who was just speaking?” Lois asked in rapid fire. She was obviously still in pain, but coherent enough to want to figure out exactly what was going on.
Clark felt his jaw tense, worry coursing through him. This wasn’t at all how he had imagined Lois learning the truth about him. But he needed her to trust him. “Lois…I need to know that you will be all right… Please… just lie still,” he said, setting her down on the smooth surface of a crystal step, not letting go of her hand. He looked up and spoke to Jor-El. “I brought her here as you asked.”
Suddenly, Lois was floating in a cool white light. Clark watched helplessly as she drifted away from him, waiting for Jor-El to speak.
After several minutes, she floated back down again. Clark helped her sit up, though terror and worry was etched on her face. “Clark, what is going on?” she asked in a low deliberate voice. “I need an explanation, pronto.”
He reached for her hand as Jor-El began to speak. “Kal-El, the baby is growing at a more rapid rate than a normal Earth baby. The yellow sun is causing the baby to grow much faster, meaning that the child will be born in six months, rather than nine, which is normal for an Earth pregnancy. The baby will have your powers, though you have to seek a way to limit those powers, at least for the length of the pregnancy. Have the mother wear blue kryptonite, which will not only boost her immune system, but will keep the pregnancy in balance.”
Clark looked down at Lois, whose eyes were wet with tears. She was trembling and uncertain.
Clark knew he couldn’t explain the truth here, in this alien ice castle. He needed to be someplace where he knew Lois would feel comfortable.
Without a word, he suddenly gathered her in his arms once more and whisked her away to the barn.
He sat her gently down on the sofa, and quietly went over to his trunk where he kept many of his Kryptonian treasures. He still had the blue kryptonite from the Kryptonian woman who had come from the future to assassinate him. Like all of Clark’s pieces of meteorite, it was contained in a small leaden box, to keep the effects from reaching him. He turned back to Lois, her eyes fixed on him, full of confusion and even fear. He handed Lois the box and stepped away from her, as much to distance himself from the kryptonite as to not intimidate her further.
“Open the lid… it will help,” he said softly, his eyes meeting hers as he willed her to understand.
She stared at him a long moment, apparently not trusting herself to speak. However, she had also heard what the voice in the ice castle had said.
Lois opened the box, letting out a small gasp as the rock started glowing a light blue.
Immediately she felt relieved, causing her to eye the crystal carefully, and then look back up at Clark, hoping he would explain.
“Clark, I’ve seen meteor showers and alien spaceships and met all kinds of strange people in my life,” she began slowly. “But I have no idea where we just were or… what is going on.”
He walked over to the window, careful to keep his distance from the kryptonite. “I had imagined telling you about this a million different ways… never once had I pictured this scenario,” he began, his voice heavy with regret. He turned to her, resolving to come out with the truth. “The first meteor shower… it did more than affect the people of Smallville with strange and freakish powers. I – “He turned to her, seeing the fear in her eyes, yet the openness there that was always part of her. She was willing to hear him out, and he wanted to explain this in a way she could relate to. Whatever happened after his cards were laid on the table, he didn’t want her to fear him. He changed his tactic, searching for the way forward. “You know how you trusted the—Blur to protect you? And how you knew that he would use his powers to help people, to protect mankind?”
Realization seemed to slowly dawn in Lois’ eyes, but she didn’t seem to grasp the full truth of it yet. “Yes,” she answered in a small voice. “What are you saying, Clark?”
“The Blur isn’t one of the meteor infected masses, Lois. He—he came here, sent by his father to protect mankind. Lois – I – I am the Blur,” he finally got out.
~L&C~
Lois stared at Clark for a long moment, still trying to wrap her mind around the trip to the ice castle and how they had gotten there and back in just a few seconds flat. And the voice… “...the baby will have your powers…”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered, even before she realized she had asked the question aloud. “Wait a minute… you – you lied to me! Just a few days ago, I was convinced that you were the Blur, and yet you insisted that I was off my rocker! Clark! Why didn’t you tell me then?” she said, looking up at him with her eyes full of hurt.
“To protect you,” he responded, but had the grace to look abashed. “I mean, I meant to tell you – eventually. But Lois, you –you’re pregnant and when I saw you in pain I—“
“Rushed in to save me?” she finished for him, the pain of his lies written eloquently on her face.
He nodded reluctantly. “There are things you need to know, which is why I took you to the Fortress. To be sure that you were all right.” He looked ashamed, and she worried about how she had become pregnant – was there something weirder going on here that he hadn’t wanted a normal doctor to see?
“So, how did I get pregnant?” she finally asked, fear slaking through her. “Are you telling me that we had some weird alien Kama sutra thing going on?” Lois said, her voice rising as she got more worked up over the idea.
Clark rushed to explain. “No, Lois, it—it’s not like that at all. Please, this is really hard for me to explain. Just… one thing at a time,” he said with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair as he tried to gather his thoughts. “The ring that you put on, when you disappeared?”
“What does that ring have to do with anything?” she asked, her tone full of suspicion.
Clark released a rush of air, gathering his courage. “The ring actually made you time travel, Lois,” he paused letting that sink in a moment. “You went a year into the future… “
“What? How?” she asked, taken aback by this revelation. Then, the reporter instinct in her kicking in, she said, “What did I see?”
“I saw… what happened to you. It’s a bit complicated, but your memories of that are gone… Lois, the long and short of it is, we – made love in the future. And now—“ he gestured towards her.
“The future? Clark, what the hell is going on here?” she asked heatedly, worry making her lash out in anger. “Wait, you are telling me we made love in the future and now—“
He nodded slowly. “Lois, I know this is a lot to take in.” He came as close as he dared with the blue kryptonite still within range, his eyes urging her to understand. “I told you that—I’m not from here, Lois. And things happen that I can’t always explain… but we… in the future—“
“I’m pregnant,” she stated, sounding in shock, sticking to the salient point. “How can I not remember all this?”
He approached her cautiously, opening the lead box. “The blue meteor rock will help you, but it takes away my powers,” he explained quietly.
She took it and put the blue rock into the box, staring at it a long moment. When she looked up at him, she had tears in her eyes. “I feel so confused, Clark. I don’t know what to think – I mean, I was terrified to tell you about the baby, thinking that you would—leave, I guess. But now, I am in shock, I suppose,” she babbled on, wiping her eyes. “You’re the Blur… and the father of my child, and yet I was ignorant to it all? How is that even possible?”
“Lois,” he began slowly, “this is scary for me, too.”
She glared at him, “Don’t even go there, Clark! You at least have the whole picture, while I’ve just been blindly bumbling along, thinking we were just a normal – well perhaps a little old-fashioned – but a normal couple. But now… It was all a lie! A ruse! I’m the one who’s scared, Clark! I don’t know what to expect here…”
He could see her growing more upset by the second, and he tried to touch her shoulder, hoping she would calm a bit and listen to him.
“Lois, even though the circumstances are not how we may have wanted things to happen, I am happy about the baby,” he said gently.
Her teary eyes met his clear ones, and he could see how hurt she was. The anger was just a shield, and her vulnerability underneath wrenched his heart. “Then why do I feel so lost in all this?” she said, making a sweeping gesture. “I’m obviously in a high risk pregnancy, since we don’t know what you and I – and, last I checked, we were dating. Taking it slow. This is not taking it slow, Clark.”
He pulled her in for a half hug, tentatively, afraid she’d reject him. “Lois, we’ll find our way through this together, I promise.”
She pulled away from him, leaning over to rest her elbows on her knees, her hair covering her face. “I guess we will, Smallville… It’s just… I feel like something was stolen from me, something precious.”
“What do you mean?” he asked softly.
She sat up, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I—I don’t want to talk about it right now, Clark.”
Lois suddenly stood, taking the lead box with her. “I need to think through some things… thanks for this, I guess,” she said, lifting the box in a small gesture.
“Lois, where are you going?”
She headed down the steps, moving faster as she went, afraid he’d make her stay. “I just need to think, Smallville.”
He supersped to stand right in her way.
She glanced up at him, a shocked look on her face that slowly melted into one of reserved calm.
“Clark, I get that you have saved me on multiple occasions, and—believe me when I say I am grateful. But – I’m still trying to understand what we are to each other, and I am kinda missing a large part of that puzzle,” she said, gesturing to her barely visible pregnant stomach.
“I remember,” he said huskily, his eyes searching hers, looking for any sign of recognition of what they meant to each other.
“But I don’t,” she said simply, feeling tears creep up once more. “I have a lot to think about, Clark. Just… please, if you care about me, you’ll let me go.”
~L&C~
Clark stepped aside and watched Lois leave, guilt wracking his conscience.
And what was worse, fear.
Lois knew he was the Blur now, though he wasn’t sure what she thought of that information or what she would do with it. He took a steadying breath, remembering anomalous times where she had learned the truth about him, and then had promptly forgotten due to time travel or potions. She had always been understanding and had stood by him.
She wouldn’t use it against him, of that he was sure.
She was the vulnerable one, he realized, guilt slamming him in the chest once more.
Pregnant with the Blur’s baby… she would be a target in no time if word got out.
She needed space. He could understand that.
But he would still look out for her.
~L&C~
The real flood of tears hit Lois when she stepped outside and she realized she had no way of getting off the Kent farm. She was stuck here, at least for now.
And the realization that she wanted desperately to leave, when in times past, she had considered the Kent farm her home, hurt her even more.
Who was Clark Kent, exactly?
She couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the fact that he was an alien and that she was somehow carrying an alien baby. She felt nauseated at that idea… and yet, she had loved the Blur and Clark. She knew him better than most, she thought.
She should feel joy at the knowledge that they were one and the same man, and yet all she felt was betrayal and confusion.
So, unable to speed her way off the farm, she went into the house instead, hoping Clark would give her some space. She sighed as she climbed the steps, acknowledging that Clark was still the man she had fallen for in many ways… except there was this whole other side to him that she barely knew anything about – and that side of him was literally a part of her now.
She felt a bit weak as she entered the kitchen, and remembered the strange meteor rock Clark had given her to help her symptoms. She opened the box, and stared at the glowing crystal, feeling immediately better.
“Whatever,” she murmured to herself, in an attempt to momentarily dismiss what she couldn’t comprehend at the moment.
She sat the open box on the kitchen counter and started pillaging for something to eat, giving herself a moment’s distraction.
She found some fruit and chocolate, which seemed exactly what she craved. “Well, at least that seems normal,” she said to herself, heading to the living room to zone out on some TV.
But try as she might, she couldn’t focus on a single show. Her thoughts kept racing back to Clark. She thought of all the years she had known him, and how often it must have been him that had saved her. She thought of their first real kiss, smack in the middle of the Daily Planet, and how it had scared her and swept her off her feet at the same time. She had tried to run away from her feelings for Clark almost as hard as she had run after the Blur…
And somehow in the middle of it all, she had time-traveled to a future where she had ended up making love to Clark…
As tears started again, she erupted into a laugh. At least when you get unexpectedly pregnant, you usually have the memory of how it happened!
But that memory had been stolen from her, and yet, somehow Clark knew? She shut off the TV and was about to race across to the barn and demand he explain how he knew about what happened. But when she turned around, he was already standing in the doorway.
“I’ll take you to the Talon, if you want, Lois,” he offered, his voice full of regret. “You don’t have to stay here. I won’t make you.”
“No, I will stay here, Clark. Because I have a few more questions for you,” she said, her voice seething with something akin to anger and maybe a bit of humiliation. “I want to know exactly how you know what happened between us in this supposed—future.”
Clark sighed, looking almost relieved. Apparently he had expected her to want to bolt out of there at the first opportunity. But he wasn’t getting off so easy, not if she could help it.
She patted the sofa seat next to her. “So, let’s hear it, Smallville. How do you know what happened between us?”
He sat down, then gave her a warning look. “I just don’t want you to fly off the handle when I tell you. But I understand your need to know everything.”
“Look, Clark, I’ve learned I’m pregnant with your child and that you are some super-powered alien. I think I’m doing all right, all things considered. Just tell me.”
“There is a lot of back story here, and quite honestly, I am not sure where to begin,” he said with a heavy sigh.
“Hit the salient points then,” she prodded. “Give it to me like a news story.”
He nodded, seeming to understand that. “Well, the headline I suppose is, ‘It was Tess.’”
“Tess?” she said angrily in surprise. “What does that red-headed troll have to do with us?”
“This is where it gets complicated,” Clark tried to explain.
“Then simplify it for me, Smallville,” Lois demanded.
“Okay, just hear me out… Tess was trying to find out something about the future, and she knew that you had time-traveled.”
“How did she know?” Clark gave her a look imploring his need for her let him just explain, and she nodded in concession.
“When she found out that you had memories of the future, she kidnapped you from Met Gen and ran some tests on you. I broke into the lab and, while trying to rescue you—I tapped into what she was witnessing.”
“So you wanted to spy on me as well?” she asked, offended.
Clark shook his head, desperate to make her understand. “No, Lois, there are other things going on that I will explain to you, but the important thing is, I was trying to understand what Tess was after. I needed to see what she knew… “
“So Tess saw us together?” Lois asked, panic clear in her voice.
“No, I—tapped in after Tess… was taken care of,” he explained. Another sigh escaped him as he tried to find the words to tell the rest to Lois. “And basically, you and I ---we were facing World War III, Lois. We needed each other, and –“
“Oh,” she said quietly. “So—it was a one night stand kind of thing?” she asked in a small voice, nodding understanding.
“Yes. I mean, no. I mean—we thought the world was ending, Lois. But I—“
She wiped tears off her cheeks, standing up from the sofa. “I get it, Clark. Really I do. These things happen, I suppose.”
She darted around the sofa, and headed up the stairs, stopping for just a moment on the landing. “I wonder if you’ve ever been truthful to me in your life, Clark Kent. Or rather, if you’ve ever had a moment of real truth with me… I sometimes feel like the convenient girl in the room. And to think that we weren’t even in love when—“ she turned on her heels and headed up the steps.
Clark had wanted to stop her, but didn’t know what to say. He did love her. Yet, had he been so careless with her heart?
Not letting her in on his secret had been for her protection. But he was seeing how not telling her the truth had been harmful in so many ways. She didn’t know if she could trust him, and she didn’t know that he loved her.
He did have memories of their night together, and though while on some level it had been an act of desperation for both of them, it had meant something to him. When he had thought Lois had disappeared for good, it had devastated him, and her reappearance had shaken something up in him that he thought was long dead – hope.
But he knew he had never shared these things with Lois. The Blur had been his cover in more ways than one. He had always meant to protect Lois, and yet she was now more vulnerable than ever.
He had to prove to her that he loved her. That it wasn’t a convenient kind of love, but something much more real and much deeper. Clark could now see that she had only experienced one side of their love because he had kept the other side hidden from her.
But now that she knew the truth, could she reconcile the myth and the man and see how much he loved her?
