I haven't decided for sure if I'm going to split the next chapter into two or not. If I do split it, they'll be posted pretty close together - by Saturday at the latest, I'd think.
Thanks to the usual suspects for their fabulous beta-ry.
So here tis - ch. 17...
*****
Chapter 17
*****
Lucy wandered around Clark's childhood home. He'd brought her here first and would be back momentarily with Jimmy and then Lois. She wrapped her arms around herself as best she could. Even though she knew there was no way the bad guys could know where she was, she was still a bit uneasy being alone for the first time – even for a few minutes.
Clark had spent part of the day very visibly flying around in his new Suit, helping out at a couple of car accidents as he did. The rest of them spent the day at Perry and Alice's working on follow-up stories about the new hero and Perry spent much of it on the phone with the weekend editor making sure the Superman coverage was what it should be.
Lois and Clark had written the front page article for the Sunday edition, with one of Jimmy's pictures of Clark carrying her through the open Daily Planet newsroom window was splashed across half of the top section. After dinner, they'd gone back to their apartment, Clark in tow, and packed up a couple of suitcases and he'd brought her to Smallville. A 'thump' in the backyard told her that he'd returned with her husband.
Sure enough, Jimmy walked in holding their suitcases.
"So this is it," he said looking around. "Are you okay?" he asked, noticing her uneasiness.
She nodded. "I just didn't like being alone, even for a minute." She turned towards the stairs, quickly changing the subject. "I haven't ventured upstairs yet. Lois said they have the master bedroom and then there's Clark's room from when he was a kid but they're going to put a crib and stuff in there and we get the other room. She said it's only a double bed, though."
He kissed her, bags still in hand. "Guess I'll just have to stay extra close to you then."
"You would anyway," she said as she started towards the stairs.
"True. But now I have even more reason to stay close to you. I *have* to," he told her with a grin. And now that he knew she was uneasy being alone, he'd make sure she wasn't.
She turned halfway up the stairs. "Just how close are you planning on staying?"
"How close do you think?"
She went the rest of the way up to the second floor, peering in each room as she walked by. "That's Lois and Clark's," she told him, pointing the room on the left. "And this must be Clark's old room." That was the first room on the right. "This must be us," she said poking her head in the second door on the right. She turned around. "And there's the other bathroom."
"Well, we're as far from them as we can get I guess," he said with a twinkle in his eye.
She rolled her eyes. "I have to take it easy for a few days," she reminded him.
"I know, but we're already through day one, that leaves one or two more."
Another 'thump' and voices outside announced the arrival of Lois and Clark.
"We've never shared space like this with anyone," he said uncomfortably. "At Perry and Alice's we have our own bathroom and everything."
"I know. But it'll be okay."
"I know," he sighed. "And we have to remember why we're here. To keep the bad guys away from you four."
"Us four?"
"You, Lois and the babies."
"Ah."
Jimmy set their bags next to the dresser and they headed back downstairs.
*****
Lucy was nearly asleep two nights later when voices drifted up through the open window.
Clark and Jimmy were on the porch below her, Lois having gone to bed even earlier than she did.
"I don't know what we're going to do," Jimmy said, his voice heavy.
"What're you talking about?"
"How long are we going to be here?"
Clark sighed. "I have no idea. Hopefully, we'll figure it out soon, and you'll be able to go home and finish getting the apartment ready. I know it's not ideal but..."
"We've got a little bit of vacation time built up and some savings, but not nearly enough to get us through the next four and a half weeks until Lucy's due date and her maternity leave after that. And we both just passed our anniversary dates, so we won't be getting any more any time soon."
"You've got access to money, Jim, if that's the problem. Lois'll give you guys the inheritance money for just about anything."
Lucy could almost see Jimmy shake his head. "That's for Lucy's college education. I don't want to use it. We'd already planned to put whatever's left over into a college fund for Junior."
Clark didn't say anything for a long minute. "What're you going to do?"
"Try like crazy not to lose the apartment, I guess. I think we can swing about two months of neither of us working..." He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "You guys are still working, even if it's from here. You're writing more about your trips and working on your book and all that. Lucy and I... we're not. We're basically unemployed at the moment."
"Let us help then."
"No. It's my job to provide for my family."
"But you wouldn't be having problems if it wasn't for what happened and it was a case of mistaken identity. It should have been Lois taken and since you're having a bit of a hard time because of it, let us help."
"Thanks, man, but no. It's my job."
"And sometimes, it means you have to accept help when it's offered. Lois and I can afford it, no problem, and the last thing we want is Lucy stressing about money," Clark reminded him.
"I won't tell her. I'll figure something out and not tell her."
"Let's ignore for the moment all the things wrong with that statement on a relational level and just go with this... You don't think she'll know that something's bothering you?"
"Sure, she will. I can tell her it's just worrying about Luthor and all that, because that really is still worrying me."
"And you think she'll buy it?"
"If you don't say anything different."
Clark sighed again. "I don't like it. I wish you'd let us help you."
"She'll know, won't she?"
"Probably."
Jimmy sighed and didn't say anything.
"I could always send a check to your landlord, you know."
"Let me think about it, okay?"
"Okay."
"I'm going to go up and hold my wife for a bit," Jimmy told him, footsteps echoing off the porch as he walked toward the door.
"I'm going to give the farm a once over and then I'll be in, too."
Lucy stared at the ceiling. The financial aspect of all of this hadn't even occurred to her. He was right, of course. Neither of them had tons of vacation time built up and they had counted on her working more hours this summer to offset her maternity leave – which would have been during the school year when she worked less anyway.
They'd never lived *well*, but they'd never wanted for anything either. They made decent money given their ages and current stations in life. They lived as well as she had in the early days with Lois and Clark, but they didn't work nearly as hard as her sister and brother-in-law had the first few years of their marriage. They didn't go out often, but they had no problem entertaining themselves at home most of the time.
Part of that had been voluntary the first year, when she shared the apartment with her friends. Unable to count on help from either one of their families with the cost of the wedding, they'd lived meagerly. They'd gone on inexpensive or free dates, spending evenings at home studying or watching movies or even with Perry and Alice. Once they were married, they had other things to occupy them many evenings. They'd saved some money but not enough to carry them if they were out of work for more than a couple of months.
She wouldn't have a problem using the inheritance money from her parents to live on, but for some reason, Jimmy was as bad as Lois when it came to insisting that it was for school only.
Jimmy tried to be quiet as he came into their temporary home away from home.
She rolled over. "I'm up."
"Why?"
She shrugged in the moonlight. "Couldn't sleep, then heard something outside." She looked him straight in the eye.
"Ah." He toed his shoes off. He quickly stripped off his shorts and socks before sitting on the bed next to her. He tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side with the rest of his clothes. "How much did you hear?"
"Enough to know you weren't going to tell me and then some."
He sighed before rolling to lie on his back, his knees bent, fingers laced behind his head, staring at the ceiling. "I don't want to use the inheritance money," he started. "That's for your school and the baby's school."
She propped herself up on one elbow, her head resting on her hand. "Is it that bad?" she asked quietly. Neither were the best money managers but had worked hard together to make sure they lived within their means. They shared in monthly budgeting responsibilities, but he'd taken over most of the checkbook balancing and bill paying once she got pregnant. It was part of his whole 'taking care of her' thing and she thought it was sweet – one less thing for her to worry about.
"Not yet," he told her honestly. "We can swing a couple months with no income, maybe, but that's it. We still have to pay rent and electric – though that should be really low since we won't be there – and car insurance and life insurance and food and rental insurance and... We don’t have any car payments or anything which helps." He sighed. "There's still plenty of bills to pay even if we're not there. We could cut the cable and the phone until we get back. That should save some money. Not turn the phone all the way off, of course, but at least cut out the extras and the long distance. Won't save much but a little bit."
"So what are the options?" she asked quietly.
"It's my job to take care of both of you," he said, twining his fingers with hers.
"And sometimes, that means accepting help when it's offered," she told him softly. "We didn't blink when they offered to pay for half the wedding."
"That was different," he insisted.
"Why?"
"Because I wasn't your husband yet. I hadn't promised to take care of you regardless of anything else."
Lucy sighed. "So what are we going to do?"
He let go of her hand and reached out to brush her hair back. "I don't know, but don't worry about it. Let me take care of it."
"We're in this together," she reminded him.
"I know, but let me think about it and we'll talk more tomorrow, okay?"
She nodded before kissing him and snuggling in next to him, knowing it would be a long time before he slept.
*****
She rolled over to see Jimmy staring out the window into the early morning sunshine. "Did you sleep at all?" she asked.
"Not much," he admitted, turning around to watch her.
"Did you come to any conclusions?"
He sighed, leaning against the window sill. "If they offer again, accept the help." His shoulders slumped as he said it.
"What made you decide that?"
"The baby."
She pushed herself up to a sitting position, waiting for further explanation.
"We have enough in savings to get us through a couple months if we're careful with any extra expenses but that wouldn't leave us with anything for diapers or formula if we need it or hospital bills or anesthesiologist bills if you get an epidural, things like that." He moved to lie down next to her, pulling her to him. "I hate that we don't have enough to cover all this and that we even have to consider accepting help from them."
"We're just starting out," she reminded him. "We've been married just a little over a year. We make decent money for people our age, but still not great compared to expenses or what we'll make in a few years. We're in school still. We do have money in savings. How many of our friends can say that?"
"Not many," he admitted.
"So we're not doing *bad*, we're just in an unexpectedly difficult financial situation that's not of our making."
"I know. But it's still not an easy thing to admit that we need help."
"I know."
There was a knock on the door.
"Yeah?" Lucy called.
"Clark's making breakfast. Do you guys want some pancakes?" Lois asked.
Lucy's mouth started watering at the mere mention of food. "Yeah. We'll be right down."
"I'll let him know."
She leaned over to kiss Jimmy softly as they heard Lois walk away. "It'll be okay."
"I know, Babe." He rested on hand on her stomach and was rewarded with a kick. "Let's go get the two of you something to eat."
*****
"What's that?" Lucy asked, resting her chin on Jimmy's shoulder as she sat next to him on their bed.
"I found them in the suitcase. I'd forgotten about it."
"What is it?"
"It's that victim assistance stuff Henderson and Perry told us about. Perry gave me the paperwork for both of us but I forgot all about it."
"I really don't remember much of what they said," Lucy admitted.
"It's a program that helps with expenses incurred as the result of a crime of some kind. For us, in theory at least, it'll help cover your hospital expenses from the other night and lost wages and help pay expenses for things like rent and stuff while we're holed up here." He sighed as he flipped through the packet. "There's a ton of information that they want, but if it's approved, it'll cover everything for both of us. You have to miss work because you can't be anywhere that Luthor might find you. I have to miss work because I'm not about to leave you alone and there's always the chance – according to Henderson – that I could be used as bait or something like that. I'm not sure if that's really a valid concern or if he was just giving me an excuse to leave. Either way, I'd be what they'd call a secondary victim."
"And we're considering this, I take it?"
"Well, we pay taxes. Not much but we do. It's there for people like us whose lives are disrupted because of a crime."
"And it's different than taking money from Lois and Clark?" she asked quietly.
He nodded. "Yeah, it is."
"Why is that?"
He shrugged. "I can't explain it. Taking money from them is like saying I've failed to provide for my family and have to rely on them to take care of us. This... this is an official government program designed to help with stuff like this meaning they expect to have costs incurred as a result of crimes and that people will need help with them. It's not a failure."
"You're not a failure no matter where the money comes from."
"Thanks." He leaned his head against hers. "I'm more comfortable with this though. I think if we did take money from Lois and Clark, every time I see them – or not every time, but often enough – I'd think that we owe them. And every time we get a raise or another check from my bastard father, I'd think that we owe them at least some of it to pay them back even though I know they wouldn't expect us to. And I don't want that change in our relationship."
"Okay, then." She took one of the packets from him. "Let's get started on this." She scanned the first page. "We don't have all of this information here. We'll have to get the police report number and stuff like that."
"I'm sure Perry has it."
She pulled two pens out of her purse. "Here. You start on yours and I'll start on mine."
He flipped the page over. "We'll have to get our insurance policy numbers and stuff, too."
Twenty minutes later, they'd both filled out what they could. "I'll have Clark get these to Perry," Jimmy said. "He can get them to Henderson or whoever it is that needs to get them."
Lucy wrapped her arms around him and pulled him back towards her. "Are you okay with this?"
He didn't say anything for a long minute. "No, but it's what has to be done."
"I love you, Jimmy Olsen."
"I love you, too, Luce."
"What?"
"What what?"
"What aren't you telling me?"
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"For what?" she asked, one hand moving to play with his hair.
"For having to do this. For not protecting you. For not finding you faster. For not finding you at all."
"Oh, honey." Lucy held him tighter. "None of this is your fault. There was no way you could have known that I was going to be in danger. Or any way for you to find me faster – or even at all. The only way you could have is if we found out you were Clark's fraternal twin or something. That's the only reason he found me. And if he hadn't or if he couldn't have done the things that he did, you wouldn't have rested until I was found, right?"
He nodded. "It still stings a bit that your brother-in-law was able to save you when your husband couldn’t."
"You never know. There might be a time when you can help Lois and the baby when Clark can't."
"Because he's off saving the world somewhere? Because that's the only reason I can see that he might need help protecting his family," Jimmy told her, a trace of bitterness in his voice. "It's not the same."
"No, it's not, but it doesn't change anything."
"It doesn't?"
"No."
"If Clark wasn’t married to your sister, you wouldn't be interested in a guy who could protect you from anything?"
"Look at me." He didn't move so Lucy forced him to face her. "After everything we've been through, after everything we've said and done together since the first time you asked me out and since we've been married, do you honestly think that I would ever look at another guy?"
"Even if I wasn't around for some reason?"
She wasn't sure where the self-doubt was coming from, the feelings of inadequacy when compared to Clark, but she knew he needed her love and reassurance. She let go of him and stood to lock the door to their room, moving to close the window as well.
"What are you doing?"
She pulled her shirt over her head before reaching behind her back to release the clasp of her bra. "Showing you how crazy that idea is."
"We can't do this," he told her. "Your doctor said..."
"A couple days is up," she informed him, pushing him back against the bed. "And I want to make love to my husband and something tells me you need me to." She wiggled out of the rest of her clothes before moving next to him. "Just let me love you," she whispered, moving to kiss him.
He pulled back. "I don't know, Babe. Are you sure?"
"You promised me that there would be nothing sexier than knowing I'm having your baby. Is that still true?"
He nodded. "Yeah," he finally said quietly. "It is."
"Then show me." She moved to kiss him again, and this time he didn't move away.
He kissed her back with a fervency, an urgency, he never had before and she let him take control as, once again, they reaffirmed what they meant to each other.
She rested in his arms some time later. One of his arms was around her and he played with the hair at her temple.
"Thank you," he whispered. "I needed that."
"I know. I did, too." She grinned wickedly. "Do you think they heard us?"
He rolled his eyes. "I have no idea, but I'm going to pretend they were in another county."
"Works for me." She sighed contentedly. "Can I ask you something?"
"After that? There's something you think I won't want to talk to you about?" he asked, incredulous.
"About your dad."
"Ah." He paused. "What do you want to know?"
"Why do you think he wanted to know about Clark? I mean, I heard him ask about the 'so-called Superman' but couldn't that have been genuine concern about an unknown entity – at least to him. He had no way of knowing that we know and trust him."
He shook his head. "He's worked for the government for years. I'm not entirely sure what he does. Officially, he works for the State Department, I think, but I've suspected for a long time that he's really part of the NSA or CIA or NIA or something like that."
"Why is that?"
He gave a one-armed shrug. "It's not anything I can really quantify, just things he's said or done over the years. The few times I did hear from him. That would explain why he was so interested in Superman. You didn't see his face change when he started talking about him. It would surprise me if he actually saw us on TV. I think someone else found out who it was that was rescued and then realized that he was related and sent him to interrogate one or both of us. And once I called him on it... I could see in his face that he was trying to find a way to lie his way out of it."
"I'm sorry."
"I'd rather have you any day."
"Are you sure? You wouldn't rather have your dad in your life?"
Jimmy leaned up on his elbow before kissing her. "Do I need to show you again?"
She smiled up at him. "It wouldn't hurt."
"I'll spend the rest of my life showing you how glad I am you're my wife," he said seriously.
"I'll hold you to that," she answered softly.
"Good."
*****
They'd been in Smallville for a week and a half. Desperate to get away from the farm, even for a few minutes, they headed into town to pick up a few groceries. Clark had headed to one of the western states to help with the search for a little boy who had managed to get lost.
They wandered around the small grocery store, taking it in. They picked up some milk and eggs as well as cereal and a few other things.
"Hey! You must be Lois' sister!"
Lucy turned to see a blond woman smiling at them.
"I'm Maisie," she told them, holding out a hand. "We heard the four of you were staying out at the Kent place while this whole kidnapping thing blows over."
"I'm Lucy," she said, shaking the offered hand. "And this is my husband, Jimmy."
"It's so nice to meet you both. We were horrified to hear what happened. And that it should have been Lois!" Maisie shook her head. "We adopted her as one of our own when she was here last fall for the Corn Festival and the idea that someone would want to kidnap her... We're awfully glad that you're safe. It sure is lucky that this Superman showed up just in time to find you."
Lucy nodded. "I'd never been so grateful to see anyone in my life."
She moved closer to Lucy. "Is he as good-looking in real life as he is on TV?"
Lucy shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Jimmy. "Well, I was pretty freaked out when he rescued me. I'm afraid I didn't really look very closely."
"Well, that's certainly understandable." Maisie glanced at her watch. "I've got to get back over to the diner. You tell Lois and Clark that I said 'hello', will you?"
Lucy nodded, wincing as she did.
"Are you okay, darling'?" Maisie rested a hand on Lucy's forearm.
Lucy nodded as the sensation passed. "I've been having Braxton-Hicks for the last few days, but that one was the worst yet."
The older lady looked concerned. "Well, if I see Laura, I'm going to send her out to see you. That looked like more than Braxton-Hicks to me and you should have her look you over."
Lucy nodded. "Thanks, but we really do need to get back. We told Lois and Clark we wouldn't be gone long."
After a few more words exchanged with various residents of Smallville, they were on their way back to the farm.
No more than three minutes later, Lucy gasped as a contraction overtook her.
"What is it, Babe?" Jimmy asked her, concerned as she grasped his hand tightly.
It was a minute before she was able to respond. "That hurt," she whispered. "And I think my water just broke."
"It's too early," Jimmy said, pressing down a bit harder on the gas pedal.
"Three weeks. That's not too bad," she whispered, tears coming down her face. "I hope Clark's back or that Maisie finds Laura soon."
It seemed like forever before Jimmy spun the tires a bit turning into the drive. "Wait here," he said grimly. "Let me see if Clark's here."
A second after he walked into the house, Clark was standing next to the car, lifting her carefully. "I got you, Luce. How ya doin?"
"It hurts," she whimpered as another contraction overtook her.
"I know."
He carried her up the stairs and set her in the middle of the bed in their room. Lois and Jimmy were right behind them.
Clark left to get supplies while Jimmy helped her take her shorts and underwear off and Lois moved to make the bed with a tarp under a sheet. Once she was settled back against the pillows, a sheet draped over her legs, she grimaced as Jimmy did his best to remember what they'd learned in some of their classes and checked her cervix.
"It's too fast, isn't it?" she whispered between contractions.
"At least eight centimeters," he said as Clark came back in the room. "This is going way too fast for a first baby. She's been having contractions off and on for a couple of days but nothing too serious. We thought they were just Braxton-Hicks," Jimmy told him.
"I called Laura," Clark said. "She's on her way, but she wasn't home so it could be a while before she gets here. We're on our own until then."
Lucy rolled onto her left side, tears streaming down her face. "It hurts," she cried. It wasn't too long before the contractions slowed down a bit and she breathed a sigh of relief with slightly more rest between each one. She clung to Jimmy hand as he brushed the hair off her face.
"You can do this, honey," he told her, kissing her forehead.
"I may have to hurt you after this," she told him weakly.
"I can take it."
She let out a little cry. "You have to check again, Jimmy. Something feels weird."
He squeezed her hands. "Let Clark, honey. I know he's your brother-in-law and all, but he's the one who worked with Dr. McCorkle."
Lucy nodded as Jimmy and Lois helped her roll onto her back.
"I think it's time to push, Luce," Clark told her. "The baby's coming."
She nodded. "I don't think I have a choice," she whispered.
After the longest twenty minutes of her life, she finally delivered the baby.
"You want to do the honors, Jim?" Clark asked as he held the baby in his hands.
Jimmy moved towards the foot of the bed. He looked at her with tears in his eyes. "It's a girl."
Lucy fell back against the pillows, tears continuing to stream down her face. Jimmy wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed her to Lucy. She stroked the tiny face as Lois kissed her hair.
"Luce, you did great. She's beautiful."
Lucy laughed just a bit. "She looks kinda gross."
Lois laughed with her. "We'll get her cleaned up and you'll see."
On a euphoric adrenaline high, she barely noticed as Clark finished what he needed to do. It wasn't long before they heard the front door open and a voice call out.
"We're up here, Laura," Clark called back.
In just a few minutes, Laura was double checking what Clark had done post-delivery. Lois and Clark had gone downstairs while Jimmy stayed by Lucy's side.
"Superman did a good job," Laura commented as she helped clean up the room a bit.
"How's she look?" he asked Laura.
"She looks good," Laura said, looking over the tiny baby as Jimmy helped Lucy put some clean clothes on and then back onto the now clean bed. "She's a little small, but not too bad. She's only three weeks early. We'll want to keep an eye on her, but I think she'll be fine." She finished swaddling the baby. "Now, are you planning on nursing this angel?"
Lucy nodded. "I don't know how long I'll be able to because of school and stuff, but I'd like to try at least for a little while."
"Well, it may hurt a bit at first. In fact, it probably will, but it's good for you and good for her. You ready to try?"
"Already?" Lucy asked shocked.
"This is the best time. It's something she should know how to do instinctively."
Lucy nodded and after a few minutes, the baby was nursing like a champ.
"I'll leave you two for now, but call me if you need anything or have any questions or anything else. Day or night, okay?"
Lucy nodded, distracted by her daughter. "We will. Thanks, Laura."
Laura left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.
Jimmy kissed the side of Lucy's head, one arm wrapped around her as they watched their daughter eat her first meal. "I'm so proud of you, Babe. You did great."
"I didn't have much choice in the matter," Lucy said honestly.
"Still, you did great."
"Thanks."
"Have we picked out a name yet?"
"I still like Abigail."
"Me, too."
"It wouldn't have anything to do with that intern would it?" she asked with a grin.
He laughed lightly. "I only have eyes for two women and you know that."
She turned slightly to kiss him. "I know."
"So Abigail it is?"
She nodded. "Abigail Alice Olsen."
"Too many As?"
She shook her head. "I think it's perfect."
He reached out a finger and stroked her head. "Hi, Abbie," he whispered, using their chosen nickname. "Welcome to the world, little girl."
*****
TBC
