Last time:
Lois
We stopped moving in a small room. The nurse told me to keep my bra and underwear on and change into a gown that was only slightly thicker than paper. She also handed me a cup and pointed me in the direction of the attached bathroom.
Great.
I hadn't kept any fluids down in hours and they wanted me to pee in a cup. And I wasn't quiet about what I thought about that.
Clark cringed.
Who cared? He wasn't the one dealing with all of this. He was probably just upset that he couldn't sneak off to see Lana again tonight.
I managed to get something into the cup and changed clothes, holding the open back of the gown closed as I made my way to the bed.
"Okay, Lois, lay on your left side for me," the nurse – her name tag identifying her as Angie – told me.
I nodded and lay down. I'd read that the left side made for better blood flow to the baby or something. Fortunately, that also meant my back was to the wall. That was good.
"From the sound of it, you're probably dehydrated and that can cause cramping."
"Yeah, I read that."
She smiled at me. "You did the right thing by coming. The doctor will be in in a few minutes and if he agrees, we'll get an IV and some meds started for you." She set an emesis basin on the bed. "Just in case."
Clark was studiously ignoring me, instead focusing on the exciting pattern of spackle on the wall. Finally, he said something. "Lois..." And then the doctor walked in.
*~*35*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
Surely I'd get a chance to talk to her in a few minutes, but for now, I needed to focus on the doctor.
"Ms. Lane," he started.
He kept talking, but I tuned out for a minute. Lane. Well, I guessed we'd never discussed her changing her name after Daniel mentioned it. It shouldn't have mattered – the marriage shouldn't have lasted this long. And she may just not have gotten around to filling out the forms yet so legally, she was probably still Lois Lane regardless of what her long term plans were.
I heard the doctor mention something about IVs and then he left. I muttered something about being right back and followed him. He stopped at the counter nearby.
"Doctor?" I asked.
He turned to look at me. "Yes, Mr. Lane?"
I cringed. "Actually, it's Kent – Clark Kent. Lois hasn't changed her name since we got married."
"I see. What can I do for you, Mr. Kent?"
I waved vaguely in the direction of Lois' room. "Is she going to be okay? I mean, really. And the baby?"
He turned more fully towards me. "Has she been eating regularly? Even if she's been sick in the evening?"
I ran a nervous hand through my hair. "We haven't been married long and I haven't been home much this week," I said honestly.
He regarded me intently. "Mr. Kent, she's going to need your help to get through this. She's going to be fine, and so is the baby, but she hasn't been taking care of herself. I don't know why the morning or evening or whatever sickness hasn't hit her until her second trimester, but it's hit with a vengeance now. You have to make sure she's eating as much as she can. Small meals are better than big ones – grazing throughout the day – and drinking. Water is good if she's keeping food down too, but when her stomach's upset, some flat ginger ale or Sprite might help. Gatorade is good, but no caffeine. I've also had women tell me that chewing grape bubble gum helps sometimes. I'm going to tell her all of this, too, but you're going to need to make sure she does what she needs to do."
I nodded.
"This isn't my first rodeo. I don't know what's going on with the two of you, but she's going to need your help to get through this, so you need to put aside whatever it is that's bugging you and be there for your wife and baby. Got it?"
"Yeah," I said quietly and returned to the room. I pulled the chair over beside the bed and sat down. "Feeling any better?" I finally asked.
She didn't look at me as she shrugged. "They're getting me some meds."
I couldn't help but remember another hospital where I'd actually sat next to her on to her bed. The standards here were much higher and I wasn't concerned about her contracting some sort of communicable disease in a building named after her mom.
But times were different then. Even though it had only been a couple of weeks, things were very different now.
Then I'd held her hand and joked with her - trying to lighten her mood. It was easy then for her to sink into a depression and wonder how on earth we were going to get home. But, here, in the safety of the good ole United States, things were actually much more grim. She couldn't have known it, but if it came right down to it and there was no other way to get home, I would have flown us. I had no idea what the consequences would have been - would she have looked at me like the freak alien I was? Or would she have just accepted it as another facet of my personality? Fortunately, we didn't have to go that route.
Or maybe things would have been better if we had. Sure she might have hated me or even outed me to some secret government agency, but I didn't think so. But we wouldn't be married now. Though, I supposed it was possible that the Latislani creep would still be after her even over a few thousand miles. I don't know how I would have - or could have or even should have – protected her then.
Maybe Joe would have actually married her.
But instead... Now she knew she was pregnant and there was a baby depending on her. I think, if pushed, she'd say she hadn't really wanted this baby, but I also think she'd say that she wanted him or her now.
So why couldn't I comfort her and joke with her now? Take her mind off things?
That was easy. She wasn't Lana. And she knew I still loved my girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend, I reminded myself. There was no me and Lana anymore. Not now, and somehow I thought not ever. There was no way she'd wait five years for me. And I hadn't actually said five years to her either.
The nurse came in then and interrupted my musings. She emptied a syringe of medicine into the tubing that led to Lois' arm. It would stop the nausea, she said, but it would probably put her to sleep too.
That might not be such a bad thing. At least she'd sleep through the next few hours instead of us sitting here in painful, awkward silence.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I pretended the medicine put me to sleep long before it actually did. I didn't know how I was going to survive another six or seven months of this much less another five years. And with a baby in the mix.
I knew he didn't want to be here, but couldn't he at least pretend not to be completely horrified by the idea of spending the next few years with me? And we were really going to have to work on the whole 'pretend we're in love in front of others' thing or *he* would be after the baby – and me – faster than you could say Latislan.
Hot tears stung the back of my eyelids and I willed them to stay put. I didn't want him to see me cry.
It was all these stupid hormones. I didn't care that he didn't love me; that he loved Lana. I didn't. I did care that he didn't even want to be my friend anymore. That's what hurt more than anything. I'd lost a good friend when I married him.
What could be worse than that?
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
It was midafternoon by the time we made it back to the room that was supposed to pass for an apartment. The nausea had passed, but the cramping hadn't stopped so they'd kept her for a while to keep an eye on her.
She'd refused to let me help her out to the car or out of the car or into the building or anything else. I knew she couldn't have slept well while we were there – I sure hadn't – but I felt like there was more to the frosty attitude than just that, but for the life of me I didn't know what it was.
"I'm going to take a nap," she told me as I shut the door behind us. "I know the medicine knocked me out, but I didn't really get much sleep and I'm exhausted." As though to emphasize her point, she yawned.
I nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. You couldn't have been comfortable with tubes running out of your arm and nurses checking your pulse every fifteen minutes."
She shook her head. "No, not really."
"Listen, I'll let you get some sleep." I jerked my thumb towards the door. "I'm not all that tired, so I'll get out of here and let you have some peace and quiet."
She was heading for the bathroom as I spoke. When I finished she paused for a second, then continued. "Thanks," she finally said.
"Hey, Lois," I called. She stopped, but didn't look at me. "I'm glad you and the baby are okay. Really. I am." I may not have been really happy with things being the way they were, but I didn't want anything to happen to either one of them.
"Thanks," she said again and she went into the bathroom.
I grabbed my backpack and left. Surely I could find somewhere to study.
Maybe there was a quiet spot on the Great Wall somewhere.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
Part of me was glad Clark had left. I could sleep in peace.
I could cry in peace.
I managed to keep it together for about ten minutes after he left. I figured by then he wasn't coming back because he forgot something. His backpack was gone so he was either going to study or pretending he was going to study when he was really going to see Lana.
The tears flowed until the pillow under my cheek was soaked. While he was gone to get something to eat, Dr. McConnell – I couldn't bring myself to call her Kristi – had stopped by and listened for the baby's heartbeat. One hand moved protectively to my stomach. I'd heard the heartbeat for the first time. I'd seen it at the ultrasound she'd done a couple days after we got back, but hadn't heard it then because of the problems with the machine. She'd offered to wait until Clark got back, but I'd told her it wasn’t necessary – I didn't know how long he'd be gone. Part of me thought he probably should have been there, after all he was sacrificing to claim the baby is his, but part of me also felt that it was something very private to be shared only with a man I loved someday – when and if I was carrying his baby. Clark should have no part of it. Maybe if he'd still been acting as my friend but...
Something that might have been disappointment had flitted across his face when he'd arrived just as Dr. McConnell was leaving and she told him that he'd missed it but she was looking forward to seeing him in her office at my next appointment. I didn't tell either of them I'd scheduled it while he was in class.
I curled up further under the comforter – grateful that the heater seemed to be functioning properly in this place. It was getting renovated starting this summer for a reason. I could only hope it held out long enough. I couldn’t deal with another night like the one at Dad's cabin huddled up against Clark trying to stay warm. No, I'd pile more blankets before I did that.
I didn't know how long I'd been asleep when the shrill ringing of the phone woke me up. I reached for it.
"Hello?" I knew I sounded grumpy. I didn't care.
"May I speak with Clark Kent please?" came the voice on the other end of the phone line.
I glanced around. "He's not home." I feigned politeness. "Can I take a message?"
"This is Laura Lang. Could you have him call me please? He has the number."
Great. Lana's mom. And she sounded snippy. Big shock there. "I'll tell him you called."
"Thank you."
She hung up without saying anything else. Not that I blamed her necessarily. I certainly didn't want to talk to her anymore. I was surprised she hadn't given me a piece of her mind. Maybe I'd caught her off guard when I answered the phone.
It took a while before I could doze off again, but I did. This time, I knew it hadn't been long before the phone rang again.
"Hello?" I wasn't quite as grumpy this time – or at least I didn't sound it. I didn't think.
There was a hesitation on the other end. "Can I speak with Clark please?"
"He's not in," I told her – whoever 'her' was. "Can I take a message?"
"Is this Lois?"
I almost groaned. Who would want to talk to me? "Yes," I finally said.
"This is Martha Kent, Clark's mom."
I closed my eyes. "Hello, Mrs. Kent." I'd only talked to her once or twice while Clark and I were roommates.
I could hear the hesitation again. "Please, call me Martha."
"Hi, Martha." I tried it on for size. It sounded okay. Better than calling *me* Mrs. Kent anyway.
"How are you?"
I pushed myself up until I was sitting against the wall. "I'm okay. Thank you for asking. Would you like me to tell Clark to call you?"
I heard a sigh. "Yes, I would. But I'd like to talk to you too."
Great. My first conversation with my mother-in-law. "Okay."
There was an awkward silence that I finally broke. "I'm not really sure what to say," I confessed. "I'm sorry..." I couldn't continue, tears getting in the way of the words. I was sorry for ruining her son's life. I was sorry for getting us into this mess. I was sorry that I wasn't the daughter-in-law she'd planned on having. I was sorry that Clark's heart had broken in the process. I was sorry that they were disappointed in Clark and I knew how they must see him now, without knowing the truth about what happened and I was sorry that he hadn't been able to tell them everything. But mostly... Mostly I was just sorry.
"No. No need to say you're sorry. What's done is done and we can move on from here."
"Yes, ma'am."
She continued as though she hadn't heard me. "Jonathan and I would love to meet you sometime soon, but I don't know when we'll be able to make it to Metropolis."
"I'd like to meet you, too, but I don't know..." I did want to meet them. Sort of. But I didn't really want it to be in Smallville. I didn't want to go there where everyone would look at me and whisper things like 'that's the girl who seduced our perfect Clark Kent when he had hypothermia and made him marry her, not caring that it broke both his heart *and* our beloved Lana's in the process'. That was how small towns were. Clark had told me as much and I couldn't do it.
"It won't be easy for you to come here," she said quietly. "I'm sure Clark's told you how small towns can be."
"Yeah," I said softly.
"If you are able to come here, you can always just stay on the farm with us – you wouldn't have to go to town if you didn't want to. I know it's a long ways to come, but we really would like a chance to get to know you."
"I don't know. I don't know if we can."
"Well, you are always welcome in our home. I mean that."
"Thank you." I meant it. She was being nice. It sounded like a strained kind of nice, but nice nonetheless. She could have made this difficult on all of us.
"You're the mother of our grandchild. You're *always* welcome." She reiterated then paused. "Well, maybe Spring Break. I know Clark was planning on coming home, though last night he said he wasn't sure."
"I don't know," I said evasively. "I was supposed to go skiing in Vermont with Daddy, but that's out now. There's no way I'll be able to ski in March."
"Probably not."
"So, I don't know what my... our plans for Spring Break are. We haven't talked about it." We haven't talked about much, I added mentally. Since we got married, we hadn't really talked about much at all.
"Well, when you do, let us know if you can come. I'm guessing the two of you are going to stay in Metropolis over the summer, right?"
I hadn't even thought about that. Clark would have gone to Smallville if we hadn't gotten married. He would have spent the summer at home. It only made sense. I sighed. "I guess. My doctor is here but they're closing this building the week after finals so I don't know where we're going to go. We haven't figured it all out yet." That was more honest than she knew.
"Well, then we'll plan a trip to Metropolis – if it's okay with you – for late summer. Probably mid-August or so, before the fall semester starts so you won't have us in your hair with school starting. And it'll still give you a few weeks to recover after having the baby before your in-laws show up."
"Okay."
"I have to get going, but tell Clark that he needs to call us. We weren't done talking last night. We want to understand, but we need to hear it from our son."
I closed my eyes. They were mad at him for something else and it was my fault, too. Maybe telling her would help some. "That was my fault. I'm sorry he didn't get to finish talking to you, but I needed him."
"Well, of course you come before us. You're his wife. Was something wrong?"
"Nothing too big, but I'd started cramping and ended up in the ER until early this afternoon."
"That's not nothing. Do they know why?"
"Dehydration," I said simply. "I can't keep anything down these days. I haven't been able to for a few weeks now."
I could hear the frown in her voice. "How far along are you?" She paused. "If you don't mind my asking."
"This *is* Clark's baby," I said defensively, feeling badly about lying at the same time. I could see the wheels turning in her head. If I had only been experiencing nausea and stuff for a few weeks, then she probably thought I wasn't as far along as I said I was – since all this went away by now for most women.
"I'm not saying Clark isn't the father. I'm just curious," she said calmly.
"Thirteen weeks, but I've only been sick for three or four. That's part of the reason I didn't know I was pregnant until then." I was still defensive. "That and I've always been very irregular. I mean, I've never even really kept track." I put my head in my hands. I couldn't believe that I'd said that to my mother-in-law.
"I wonder why it's hitting you so hard in your second trimester instead of the first," she said contemplatively.
"I don’t know," I replied. "But I do know how far along I am. I've had an ultrasound to confirm it after we got back from Europe and I heard the heartbeat when my OB stopped by the ER this morning."
"Lois." Her voice was gentle. "You don't have to be defensive. Every woman reacts to pregnancy differently and every pregnancy is different. I'm not trying to say that you conned Clark into thinking this was his baby when he's not really the father or anything of the kind."
"I..." I didn't know what to say.
"I know that's what you were thinking. That I was trying to find some way to prove this isn't Clark's baby, but I trust my son. Even if he's made some poor decisions recently, he's doing his best to make things right and if you and he say you're carrying his baby, I have no reason to doubt you." She sighed. "Please don't take that the way it sounded. I don't mean marrying the mother of his child was a poor decision. That's not it at all, but I'm sure the situation with me and Jonathan and Lana could have been handled better by Clark once the decision to get married for the sake of the baby was made."
I was closer to tears than I wanted to admit. I was making their son out to be a cheat and a liar, and he was neither – unless I counted that he was still seeing Lana after he told me he wasn't planning on it, but I'd told him he could so he must have changed his mind and just not told me about it yet. "I knew what you meant." And I did. Sort of.
"Now, I'm glad he got off the phone with us. You and the baby are much more important than any conversation with us. And you're probably exhausted. Did you get any sleep last night?"
"Not much," I said honestly.
"Were you sleeping when I called?"
I hesitated. "I was dozing. I had... another phone call earlier that woke me up."
"It doesn't sound like it was a pleasant call."
She was intuitive. Maybe a trip to Smallville was a bad plan for a lot of reasons. She'd probably see right through everything. I shrugged, even knowing she couldn't see it. "It was short."
"Can I ask who it is that called that's upsetting you?"
See. Intuitive. Clark must not have gotten away with anything growing up. "Lana's mom," I finally told her.
I heard a noise that sounded something like a growl. "I told her to leave you two alone. She loves Clark, has for years and loved the idea of Clark and Lana together. But the three of you are adults now and anything that needs to be worked out needs to be worked out between the three of you not through parents." She paused. "If you ever need someone to talk to, we'll be here for you, but we're not going to fight your battles for any of you."
"I wouldn't expect you to." Clark, on the other hand, was fighting my battles. That's why we were in this deal.
"Well, Laura has a hard time accepting that this is between you and Clark and Lana and not her. Don't let her get to you."
"I'll try."
"Well, I'll let you rest some more. You have to take care of yourself and that grandbaby of mine."
"Yes, ma'am." I heard a key in the lock. "I think Clark's home. Do you want to talk to him?"
"Not right now. Tell him to call us sometime this week. He knows our schedule."
"I will."
"Bye, Lois. It was good to talk to you."
Clark walked in the room and shut the door behind him as I spoke. "Bye, Martha." His head shot up and his eyes were wide. "It was nice talking to you, too."
*****
TBC
