Last time:
Clark
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.
*~*63*~*
September 2003
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I straightened my skirt as I stared at the globe over the Daily Planet entrance.
This was it.
This was my shot.
I glanced at my watch.
I was going to be late.
I brushed my hand over my stomach, trying to get wrinkles out of my blouse.
It wasn't like this interview was with Perry White.
I probably wouldn't even see the newsroom floor if I got this job.
It was *clerical services*, for crying out loud.
I'd make photocopies, maybe do some research, typing, data input. Maybe phone solicitations for subscriptions on a good day.
I headed inside and pressed the up button. Once it arrived, I entered the elevator. My finger hovered over the button for the news floor, but I'd have enough time to soak it in later – if I got the job.
The door opened on the third floor. I didn't open my eyes as I stood there.
"Hey." The voice sounded surprised.
"Hi," I said, still not opening my eyes.
"What're you doing here?"
"Why do you care?"
There was no answer.
The door opened again – this time on the newsroom floor, I knew having counted the floor dings as we went – and Clark got off, pushing his mail cart in front of him.
I could hear a woman's voice saying hello to him and he said hello back. Cat, I thought he said as the doors shut.
A minute later, I hurried off the elevator and towards the clerical services office.
Half an hour later, I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I waited for the elevator to arrive again.
This time, I punched the button for the news floor. I was going to soak it all in for a minute before I headed to personnel to finish paperwork as a new hire.
I stood watching the bustle and breathing deeply as I did.
"Can I help you?" came a voice behind me.
I turned with a smile. "I'm just looking."
That grin should be illegal. "I'm sorry, miss. Employees or those with business with Planet personnel only."
"Well, I'm Planet personnel as of about five minutes ago."
He smiled at me again. "Really? Where?"
I grimaced. "Clerical services."
He winced. "I'm sorry."
"It's a start. I'll be here someday." I looked around again.
"I'm Billy Norcross, by the way."
"Lois," I told him, taking his offered hand. I noted he held it just a second longer than strictly necessary, but I didn't care. Over his shoulder, I saw Clark talking to a blond girl who was walking with him as he put mail on different desks.
"It's very nice to meet you."
"NORCROSS! JUDD!" The bellow startled me. Perry White stood at his office door and looked rather upset.
Billy chuckled. "You'll get used to it. Good luck, Lois. Let me know if I can help you at all."
"Thanks." I looked around for a minute longer before heading back to the elevator. I ignored the fact that my husband was chatting with another woman a few feet away and he hadn't even noticed I was there.
I went back to the first floor and filled out the rest of the paperwork, got my ID badge and set up my email.
I went home, grateful that we'd found a great nanny in Jessica. Her younger sister, Peggy Barrish, had been a friend of mine in high school and she loved kids. The only annoying thing was that she kept calling me 'Mrs. Kent' no matter how many times I told her not to.
The bad part was that Clark couldn’t stay in there anymore and since Christopher was sleeping most of the night already, there was no reason for me to sleep in the nursery.
I took a shower and was asleep long before my husband got home.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I noticed the Daily Planet badge on the dresser.
I should have known she'd want to work there, in whatever capacity.
At least I wouldn't be buying all the diapers anymore.
I noticed a note taped to the bathroom mirror as soon as I walked in there.
~><~><~
We need to get our schedules on paper so Jessica knows when we need her. I start Monday. My school and work schedules are on the calendar. You'll need to put yours on and either give it to her or leave it and I will. It also means that you'll need to babysit Christopher more now that I'm gone more. She's only supposed to work up to 40 hours a week or so though, so keep that in mind. As soon as I can, I'll try to get my schedule set up as close to yours as I can so that I can have him when you're not working. Maybe you can schedule your study times while I’m gone so that you'll only have to babysit as little as possible.
My check-up with Dr. McConnell is tomorrow. Dad asked if we wanted to go to the cabin one night this weekend. I told him I didn't want to leave Christopher that long yet. He said that we need a date night this weekend then. Put what night you want to go on the calendar and you can go to the ballgame or something. The Cardinals are in town this weekend, after all. Dad has season tickets and I'm sure he'd give us – you – the ones for one day this weekend.
Thanks.
~><~><~
I sighed. Date night. Great. At least I'd get to go see the Cardinals. I hadn't seen a game – live – in a couple years and I was sure that Sam had good seats. It didn't sound like Lois was going to go with me, but it wasn't like I would – or could – go with someone else, like Jimmy from work.
I took a shower and headed back into the room with a towel around my waist. I grabbed some clothes from the dresser in the closet and turned to see Lois sleeping in the bed. How had I not noticed she was there before?
Of course. Christopher was sleeping through the night so no reason for her to sleep in the nursery anymore and Jessica was in the other room. Where else would she be?
I'd gotten used to sprawling across the whole thing in the seven or so weeks since Christopher was born. Looked like those days were at an end.
I looked at the calendar and quickly wrote in my school schedule and thought through my work schedule for the next week before I wrote it down. I penciled in the Cardinals game on Friday – Woody Williams was supposed to be pitching that night – and then looked over the rest of it. Sam had said we could have a few hours each week to study if we felt we needed it. I penciled in study times and it looked like I'd only have Christopher by myself for about three hours total this week and most of that was in half hour chunks.
Maybe I'd be lucky and he'd sleep through most of it.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I'd gotten a call from Rehalia, my boss in clerical services, and she wanted to know if I could work Friday afternoon. Someone had a death in the family and so they were going to be shorthanded.
I'd jumped at the chance. Clark was going to be home; he could take care of Christopher and I wouldn’t have to deal with him ignoring me before our 'date night'. He was going to the Cardinals game. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Maybe sit at Barnes and Noble and read a book or something.
"Excuse me," I said as I bumped into someone fairly solid.
"No, excuse me."
I looked up. "Sorry, Mr. Norcross," I said, chagrined.
He smiled at me. The only person with a better smile was Clark – when he was my friend. "No problem, Lois. And please, it's Billy."
He remembered my name. "Right. Billy it is. I wasn't watching where I was going," I told him, smiling back at him.
"I wasn't either." He punched the button for the elevator. "Going up?"
I nodded. "It's my first day. I guess someone had a death in family so I'm filling in."
"Angela's grandpa practically raised her while her dad was in the military. Her mom died when she was very young and I don't think she ever knew her grandma. He had a heart attack yesterday, I think."
"Wow." I could relate to some of her pain. "I'm glad I can help fill in then."
He stepped off into the newsroom. "I'll see you around," he told me with another smile before rolling his eyes as the woman I guessed was Serena Judd yelled at him to hurry up. Apparently, he knew what was good for him because he jogged down the stairs.
I got off a couple floors later and got settled in at one of the desks. Rehalia said my official orientation and everything wouldn't be until the next week, but I could do a few things that were pretty self explanatory.
I made copies and did a bit of 'running' – taking things down to the newsroom floor where Billy introduced me to his reporting partner, Serena Judd. I saw the way he looked at her – the same way Clark had looked at Lana – and I wondered if anyone would ever look at me quite like that. Joe hadn't, though if we'd been able to let our relationship develop he might have.
"And this is Jimmy Olsen. Gofer and computer guru extraordinaire," Billy told me, clapping the young man on the shoulder.
His floppy brown hair hung over twinkling eyes. I could tell I was going to like him.
"Jimmy, this is Lois..." He looked at me. "I don't think I ever got your last name."
"Lois Kent," I said, extending my hand to Jimmy.
"Are you related to CK?"
"Who?"
"Clark Kent."
Oh. Right. "You could say that," I finally said. We weren't *related*; we were married.
"CK is the bomb," he said with a big grin.
I tried not to grimace. "I'll tell him that."
His face fell slightly. "No, don't do that."
I smiled. "Your secret's safe, but now I have to get back upstairs." We said our good-byes and I headed back to my temporary desk.
Now if I could just make it through 'date night.'
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
"Thanks, Jessica," I told her with a smile. "Where's Lois?"
"No problem, Mr. Kent. That's what I'm here for. And Mrs. Kent got called into work because someone wasn't going to be in this afternoon."
Right. Probably Angela. "Okay. Well, I know you were supposed to have the afternoon off so..." I was a bit nervous about her leaving. At least Vicki was around somewhere if I really needed her.
"I'm going to an afternoon movie with Debbie, but I'll be back in time for you guys to go out tonight," she said as she headed towards her room. "See you then, Mr. Kent."
"Have fun." No matter how many times I told her to call me Clark, though, she insisted that while she was working, I was her employer and therefore, Mr. Kent. When we were eating or whatever when she was off-duty, she was a very different person than in the few minutes I saw her when she was on-duty. Much more open and fun. Almost like Lana.
I tried to shake thoughts of my ex-girlfriend from my head, but I couldn't.
I'd gotten an email from her a few days earlier to let me know that she and Tim were having a baby together.
I sat on the bed and gazed at Christopher – currently sleeping contentedly in his bassinet. Would Tim be a father to the baby Lana was having? Would I be able to be a step-father to him or her if Lana took me back once all this was over? There was no doubt in my mind that I could do that.
So what was my problem?
Was it because I loved Lana and not Lois? I was willing to be a real father to her child if we ever managed to get back together; why wasn't I doing the same to the child who was legally, even if not biologically, my son? No adoption necessary.
He started to squirm and smack on the fist he managed to get into his mouth. I sighed and looked in the fridge we'd had in the dorm room and later the apartment. Lois had been pumping for when she wasn't around. I pulled out a bottle and wondered if lasers from my eyes would break down breast milk like a microwave did. I shrugged. One bottle here and there shouldn’t make a difference. I heated it carefully, testing it on my skin. I could feel sensation – enough to know if something was too hot or too cold but it never hurt. I picked Christopher up carefully before sitting in the glider and propping my feet up.
His cry had developed a bit more and it wasn't quite the squeak it had been when we first brought him home.
He was watching me as I held the bottle for him.
"Hey, little man," I finally said as I watched him. "I guess I'm your Daddy. I haven't been around much and I'm sorry about that. There's a lot you don't know about me and your mom. I'm not your biological father, but I couldn't let anyone hurt you, especially not that mad man. If he ever got his hands on you, he'd raise you to be just like him and destroy your mom in the process. I know it probably doesn’t seem like it, but she's a good friend to me. I haven't been acting much like one to her and it hurts so much sometimes to realize that in protecting the two of you, I destroyed the one person I've always promised to protect. It's not your mom's fault and it's certainly not your fault and I'm sorry that I've missed the first few weeks of your life."
It was true. "This is the first time I've spent any real time with you at all. It's not like we're going to have any deep, meaningful conversations, but you're going to grow up thinking I'm your father and I know how much an absent or nearly absent father can hurt a kid – especially a boy. Pete's dad was been like that. His parents were still married, but his dad was always too busy. It was very 'Cat's in the Cradle'. I don't want that. I want to be a part of your life. Once Navance is gone, I don't know what'll happen, but I hope your mom will let me still be a part of your life. One day, after you know the whole story, I hope you'll understand why I did what I did and why your mom and I didn't stay together. I hope to make the transition as easy for you as I can."
He hadn't been very happy when I tried to take the bottle out while he was working on it, so I'd let him finish it before trying to burp him. I patted his back as he snuggled into my shoulder and I was overcome with what I thought was remorse.
I'd already missed nearly two months of his life.
I'd have to make sure I didn't miss any more.
*****
TBC
