Thanks - as ever - to Alisha, Beth and Nancy for their invaluable help!
I've realized that getting this and Unanswered Prayers [the Nano project/sequel] done this year is going to require a posting increase so look for that soon - hopefully!
Last time:
Clark
I sighed and closed my eyes, my head falling back. "If I'd known what would have happened, I would have flown her out of there before they even knew we were stowaways. I knew then that she could be trusted – after she practically carried me to the cabin." I ran both hands through my hair. "And if the physical danger had been too much, I would have gotten her out of there; we would have just... disappeared. But the long-term danger is more real than either of us would have guessed at the time. I still don't know why he fixated on her and the baby. And there's no way I'd ever let anything happen to either one of them, but I can't tell Sam that and I can't be with both of them at all times either."
I didn't tell them that after five years, I'd be free to try to fix things with Lana.
Dad chose that moment to stifle a yawn.
"Your room is over past the kitchen," I told them. Mom held me longer than I would have expected under normal circumstances.
"Be careful," she finally whispered.
"I'll see you guys in the morning," I told her as I gave her another small squeeze. "Sam said you guys can use one of the cars if you want to while you're here. Or you can take the Jeep and I'll take the truck when I go to the hospital. There's a couple of portable GPS units in the garage. Any of us can show you how they work. They're pretty easy and it's nearly impossible to get lost."
A minute later, I was headed back towards my room, having said good night. Knowing my parents, they'd be up for a while discussing the latest revelation about their daughter-in-law and grandson. Part of me contemplated putting on some dark clothes and heading over to the hospital to hover for a while, but Sam had at least one, maybe two, bodyguards at the hospital and the post-natal unit and nursery were locked down anyway so there was no real danger.
I sped through my before bed routine and a few seconds later, I was lying on my side of the big bed, staring at the stars through the roof.
*~*62*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
Christopher was tucked safely into his car seat in the back of the Jeep. Clark was driving and I was in the back next to my son. Neither one of us said much of anything on the way home. The whole family had been in and out for two days and now it was late evening and Clark and I were on our way home.
I was just grateful that we were by ourselves and we were heading home.
The nearly forty minute drive passed in virtual silence. Christopher was asleep and Clark and I weren't speaking.
Before long, we were welcomed home by the Kents and my family. We spent about an hour or so chatting in the living room before Christopher decided he was hungry again and I excused myself, heading up to the nursery.
The nursing was going fairly well. He had a weight check in two days to make sure he was gaining back the weight he'd lost at the hospital – something the pediatrician had assured me was completely normal.
I sat gingerly in the glider in the nursery and carefully maneuvered both of us until he was nursing successfully. Before long, I burped him and switched sides.
I had no intention of going back downstairs.
It was late enough I could go to bed. I had no idea if – or when – Clark would be in. I knew he'd been sleeping in what would become the nanny's room when one got hired. I didn't think he knew I knew, though.
I wanted to cry, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Even if he wasn't around to see it.
When Christopher was finally done eating and swaddled back up, asleep, I put him in his crib and went to take a shower.
As soon as that was done, I put on the most comfortable pajamas I had and went to bed.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I was being a heel.
I knew I was being a heel.
I didn't care that I was being a heel.
That made me even more of a heel.
By the time I said goodnight to my folks and everyone else, Lois was sound asleep.
I took a quick shower and pulled on a pair of boxers and sleep shorts. I hesitated when it came time to get into bed. Did I really want to sleep in here? But she'd be up in the middle of the night to feed her son and she'd know if I wasn't in here.
As though on cue, Christopher started to cry.
Lois didn't stir.
I sighed and headed into the nursery. I picked him up, cradling him gently against my shoulder.
He was so small, so fragile.
And rooting.
I couldn’t help him with that.
I sighed. I was going to have to wake Lois up. I walked back into our room and sat on the edge of the bed. "Lois," I whispered, shaking her lightly with my free hand. "He's hungry."
"Wha...?" she asked as she sat up slightly.
"He's hungry," I whispered again.
She sat all the way up and rubbed her eyes before swinging her feet over the side of the bed. "Just let me go to the bathroom and then I'll feed him."
She winced as she stood up and walked carefully towards the bathroom. One of the nurses had mentioned before we left the hospital that if she had any problems going to the bathroom to call. Apparently, she had to have a catheter help her as late as that morning.
I looked down at the baby as I heard small noises through the closed door.
It wasn’t the first time I’d held him, but it was the first where I hadn’t passed him off almost immediately.
After I’d announced his name, Mom had taken him from me pretty quickly. That was the first time I’d held him.
I’d held him once or twice here and there at the hospital, mostly when passing him from someone back to Lois when time to feed him and such.
Of course, Mom and Dad and Granny and Sam and everyone else thought I was at the hospital a lot more than I was and that I had some quality time with ‘my’ son then.
He was a cutie. I’d give whoever it was that had been with Lois credit for helping make an adorable baby.
At the moment though, he was hungry. And not being quiet about it.
It wasn’t the full fledge screaming I'd have expected from a baby, but what I now recognized as his newborn squeak.
Lois opened the door and didn’t say anything to me but held out her arms for Christopher. She spoke softly to him as she headed into the nursery.
"Good night," I heard her call as she shut the door behind her.
"Good night," I called back and headed for my side of the bed.
I didn't know how long I'd been asleep when something woke me up.
"Come on, little man," I heard Lois saying as I turned my hearing on, slightly. "You have to be tired." She sounded close to tears. "Can you go to sleep for," a slight pause, "Mom?"
I sighed. I should probably go help her, though I wasn’t sure what I could do. I'd babysat some in Jr. High and High School, but never for little babies. About a year old was the youngest I'd taken care of. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and heard her start to sing a song I didn't recognize. I could hear the nearly silent tears.
I opened the door carefully, glad they'd situated the glider where I wouldn't accidentally see something I wasn’t supposed to. She wasn't sitting down anyway.
"Can I help?" I asked quietly.
All I got was a glare as she finished the verse to the song. "What do you think you can do that I can't?" she asked in the same quiet voice.
I shrugged. "I don't know. I can try if you'd like me to."
She bounced gently up and down. "He's not hungry. He's not dirty. He's swaddled. I don't know what else it could be." Another tear streaked down her face.
"Do you want me to go get my mom and see if she has any ideas?" I offered.
She shook her head vehemently. "No. I have to do this myself."
"That's part of the reason why they're here," I reminded her.
"No." She walked over to the twin bed on the other side of the room and laid him gently in the middle of it. She carefully unwrapped him and checked his diaper. "Never mind. He's dirty after all. Go back to bed."
"Are you sure?" I still wasn't sure what I could do to help, but I felt obligated to offer at least.
"No sense in both of us being exhausted. And you have to work tomorrow," she reminded me.
Tony Rader, the mailroom boss, had offered to let me have the whole week off, but I'd declined saying we needed the money.
That was the truth. Now that Christopher was here, we'd have to buy everything for him. We were already paying for our own gas since we moved in. Well, I was. And I'd filled up the Jeep a couple of times when we'd been out together, but Lois hadn't gone very many places since we'd moved in and I always took the truck. Since the warmer weather didn't bother me, I even parked near our side of the house so that I wouldn't have to walk all the way across to the garage if I didn't want to.
"If you're sure," I said.
She nodded as she reached for the wet wipes and a diaper. "Go."
She was probably as glad to get rid of me as I was to leave. "Let me know if you need me to pick up anything while I'm out," I told her.
"Diapers, wipes and the petroleum jelly tubes."
I winced. Right. The circumcision. "Okay. Do you need me to go now or...?"
She shook her head. "No, there's enough to last until you get home."
"Okay." I headed back to bed, trying not to listen to the other room for the rest of the night.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
If it wasn't for the spawn of Satan who wanted to take my child, I'd be better off as a single parent. I'd decided that the first night we were home.
Yes, Clark had to work the next day, but a little more support and a little less off handed 'can I help so he'll go to sleep so I can sleep even though I'm Kryptonian and don't really need sleep' offer to help would have been nice.
And I really didn't need Martha knowing what a failure I was going to be as a mother.
It would be bad enough having to ask her for help if Clark and I were in love and married and then suddenly – joy of joys – found out we were expecting a baby. Instead, I knew he'd told them most of the truth and they knew we weren't happily married. I knew they were being nice to me, but I still suspected they would have rather had Lana for a daughter-in-law this summer than me under these circumstances.
Christopher was crying again – or was it still? – as I tried desperately to get his bottom clean. This newborn diaper stuff was sticking to him and trying to get it off wasn't making either of us happy.
It was another hour before I finally managed to doze off on the twin bed, with Christopher resting on my chest, *finally* quiet and asleep. I glanced at the clock as my eyes finally closed – four a. m.
And in just another hour or so I'd get to get up and do it all over again.
I was – pleasantly? – surprised that it was nearly ninety minutes later before he woke me up again, this time squirming on my chest, getting one fist in his mouth before I carefully laid him on the bed, changing his diaper again and breathing a huge sigh of relief when I realized he was only wet.
I settled into the glider and winced slightly as he started nursing. It was slightly painful and more than a little weird but a very wonderful kind of weird.
I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the chair. I could imagine my mom sitting there with me, in the middle of the night, staying with me for a few days or a week after a baby was born – maybe even a bit longer if needed. Getting up with me to keep me company or letting me nurse and then taking care of whatever needed taken care of – diapers, putting him back to sleep and letting me get more rest.
A tear or two streaked out of my eyes.
I missed her so much sometimes.
I wondered if Martha would take on that role if I were Lana. Probably. And if Clark and I were a 'real' couple, I'd probably let her for me, too. I'd probably welcome it.
Of course, I'd have my husband to help, too.
I sighed as I burped him.
This time, I wrapped him up tighter in his blanket and carefully laid him in the bassinet. I wondered if since he was still so used to being warm and snug inside me, would he sleep better in a more cozy spot?
I breathed another sigh of relief as he didn't immediately wake up as I snuggled him down with his back to the side of the bassinet. I waited a minute before laying back down on the bed.
I was asleep in minutes.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I glanced through the wall after I listened and didn't hear anything but breathing coming from the nursery. Lois was asleep on the bed and Christopher was in the bassinet rather than the crib. I decided to speed through my morning routine and a few minutes later, I keyed my code into the door and made sure it locked behind me as I headed to work.
I drove to the Daily Planet and spent my eight hours sorting and delivering mail. I actually talked to Norcross for a minute. So it was in the elevator and he dropped a couple file folders and I helped him pick everything up.
I stopped at CostMart on the way home and grabbed a package of very small diapers, some wet wipes, petroleum jelly, a pacifier with holder – I hoped I got the right one – and a couple boxes of snack cakes. I grabbed a Double Fudge Crunch Bar at the checkout for Lois and wondered momentarily how her day had gone.
I sighed as I took the cash out of my wallet. I wasn't paying for anything as far as life went at the moment. No housing costs, no food bills except extras that I wanted, no utility bills. I was paying for gas, for auto insurance – which was cheaper now that Lois and I were married, at least for the truck; I had no idea what Lois had been paying for the Jeep – and that was about it. Everything else was going to rebuilding my savings that I'd depleted when I'd bought Lana's ring. Lois had replenished most of it the day we'd had our first fight when she'd written me a check, but I had a feeling I'd be doing some real groveling once this mess was over if I hoped to convince Lana that I really did want to be with her. Flowers and other assorted nice gifts would go a long way with her.
So why was I resenting spending thirty bucks on diapers and wipes?
Would Lana and I still wait for our wedding night when we got back together? She wasn't waiting for me and she didn't believe that I was waiting for her.
I shook my head as I took the change and picked up the bags and headed back to the truck. It wasn’t long before I pulled into the drive and parked near the door closest to our room. I checked the area with my hearing. No one was up there, but I headed up there anyway.
I put the stuff for the baby away in the nursery and headed for the shower. A few minutes later, I pulled on shorts and my favorite John Deere T-shirt. I sniffed at it when I noticed something a bit odd as I pulled it on.
It smelled a bit like Lois.
I hadn't worn it since she gave it back to me.
I pulled out a shirt Lana had given me for my birthday the year before. It was one I hadn't given Lois access to before she bought new clothes.
It had only an ear of corn on the front. I didn't think my parents knew where it came from, but I knew.
I knew that Lana had given it to me to commemorate being elected Corn Queen our senior year of high school. I hadn't even wanted to be Corn King, but she'd told me that I was *her* Corn King and had given me the shirt to remind me that she always thought of me as her prince.
Her knight in shining armor.
I pulled off the John Deere shirt and tossed it in the hamper before I pulled the other one on.
I just did *not* want to wear anything that smelled like Lois.
My wife.
*****
TBC
