There were many gems in this part, Janet.
“Most stores are open until 9 pm,” Clark told her.
Hey! You are talking about
Smallville! What a small-town-romance-buster! Just kidding...
I loved the way Martha greeted Lois. It was absolutely heart-warming. Poor Lois, who isn't used to this kind of heartiness, gets flustered and embarrassed:
“Oh, Clark, I know that. I wasn’t suggesting you marry her tomorrow, you know…”
Lois resolutely looked at the ground, resisting the urge to fling herself into the air and fly home. He’d never even *hinted* that he was thinking of anything… that permanent. And his mom *did* know that they might actually be… related, didn’t she?
Oh, that quip about Martha not expecting Clark to marry Lois tomorrow... Poor Lois, who honestly isn't used to people making that sort of jokes!
As the four of them entered the barn, Lois said softly, “He… might be my brother, Mrs. Kent.”
“Martha, honey. And yes, Clark told us that. If that’s the case, then we’ll welcome you with open arms as our daughter.” She stopped and looked Lois in the eye. “And if it turns out that you *aren’t* related, we’ll be just as pleased to welcome you to this family. In whatever capacity you are comfortable with, even if it’s just as Clark’s friend.”
I just love the warm welcome Lois receives here, and I hope she will accept the Kents' invitation to come visit them again.
This dynamic little blond woman was totally different in manner, lifestyle, and background from Mama. But they had the same warm heart, and standing here with Clark’s mom, Lois felt closer to Mama than she had in a long, long time.
She wasn’t going to cry again. She’d been doing altogether too much of that lately.
And this is so beautiful and poignant, how Martha reminds Lois of Mama, and how this realization makes her want to cry.
There were smaller stalls, or pens, in this area, and another door at the end.
“This was where the smaller animals – sheep and goats, mostly – were kept, years ago,” Jonathan said. “When my grandparents owned the farm. Before the milk house was built, the milk from the sheep and goats was kept down here, in the cold room. They didn’t have refrigeration, so they relied on the natural cooling from under ground.
I absolutely, totally love this, Janet. Never before have I read a LNC fanfic where the Kent farm has felt so real to me. In your story, you not only show me the buildings, but you ground the farm in history, too. For a moment there, I could just see Jonathan's grandparents tending to their farm. This glimpse into history was beautiful but also sad. Because it has to be admitted that when Jonathan gets too old to run the farm, the Kent farm will be sold and possibly torn down.
Stewed tomatoes, dilled carrots, dilled green beans, chutney, salsa, peaches, plums, apple butter, sweet pickles, pears, winter compote…
And I love this, all the canned food that Martha makes. Just like my own grandmother used to do. Although I don't particularly want to taste Martha's dilled carrots or her dilled green beans.
“Well, honey, he wasn’t real big,” Martha reminded her. “We estimated he was about eighteen months old when we found him. And he was small for his age, according to his pediatrician.”
Lois glanced at Clark.
He grinned at her. “Obviously, I grew.”
And this is just adorable!
Once the table was cleared, she showed the items to Martha and Jonathan, at Clark’s prompting. Martha exclaimed over the baby outfit as only a mother would: “Oh, Lois, what a darling outfit, honey! You couldn’t have been more than three months old or so, from the look of this. Look how tiny you were! And your mother found you just like we found Clark? Do you have any photos?”
And when Lois showed her the photos in the album, Martha reached out and placed her hand over Lois’s. “Oh, honey… You were just precious, weren’t you?”
And this is so, so wonderful. I almost get a lump in my throat. Finally, finally Lois is able to show these memories of her childhood to someone who will treat them with great sympathy and respect.
“Is this your mother?” Martha softly asked her now, indicating the picture taken at the kitchen table so long ago.
Around an unexpected lump in her throat, Lois replied equally softly, “Yes.”
And this is even more wonderful.
“I wish we could have met her,” Martha said. “She looks… well, you can see where your loving heart came from, Lois.”
More and more beautiful.
She looked back at Martha. “How do you…” She trailed off. She didn’t even know how to ask what she wanted to know.
“Lois, it’s obvious to those who love you,” Martha said gently. “Maybe to someone who doesn’t look past your job, it’s not so obvious. But we – Jonathan and I, and Clark, of course – we see the whole ‘you.’ And honey, it just *shines* out of you.”
Thank you for writing this, Janet. Thank you.
“Come back any time, honey,” Martha told her. “You’re always welcome. If you need anything; if you need to talk – you don’t even have to call. Remember that, okay? You aren’t alone anymore.”
Lois wasn’t able to answer. Whether she would ever take advantage of the offer or not, the fact that it had been made so sincerely rendered her incapable of speaking. So she simply nodded, and then on impulse, hugged Martha. The older woman hugged her back fiercely, and for a moment it felt like Mama’s arms.
You wrote this whole section so that it felt just like an orphaned child's unexpectedly finding her dead Mama. I found it all incredibly beautiful.
They watched one of the more recent action films, each of them sprawled comfortably at opposite ends of his big, cushy couch. When it ended, Clark said lazily, “I’m too relaxed to move. How about you?”
I love this image of Lois and Clark. They are so incredibly comfortable together.
And then suddenly Clark's globe comes alive, and someone, probably Jor-El, starts talking!
The man raised one hand, palm upward, then brought it up to touch his chest over his heart. “Greetings, my son.” Clark almost dropped the globe, and the image flickered wildly for a moment. The recording, interrupted, resumed. “… you from the doomed planet Krypton.”
With a small, formal bow, the man turned toward Lois, and again, he appeared to be looking directly at her. With the same gesture of upraised hand to heart, he said, “Greetings, my daughter.”
Oh no! This is it? Clark and Lois are really brother and sister?
I'm not sure I believe it. I have read fanfic where Martha has referred to Lois as her daughter, simply because Lois was married to Clark. Couldn't Jor-El simply be saying that Clark has found his soulmate, the girl who was sent to the Earth with him to be his wife?
The figure flickered again, then stabilized. The man spread his hands, appearing to look at each of them in turn, and continued, “If you are seeing this message, it means you have found one another –“
One of them – Lois wasn’t sure which – made a low noise of distress.
Abruptly, the globe died.
This is interesting. The globe started talking at a time when Lois and Clark were incredibly comfortable together. Actually, when you read the text carefully, you can see that Lois has just laughed, a happy laugh, when the globe starts talking. And it stopped talking when one of them made a sound of distress. Surely that can't be pure coincidence?
And you leave me with the feeling that Lois might be prepared to run away, to run from Metropolis the way Jane Eyre runs from Thornfields to avoid making love to a man she loves but isn't allowed to have erotic feelings for. But just like we know that Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester are meant to be together, so we know that Lois and Clark are destined to be soulmates, lovers and spouses. Anything else would be impossibly cruel.
Wonderful chapter, Janet. Please come back soon with more!
Ann
I like angst stories, and this is very, very good! 
