Thanks as always to Alisha, Beth and Nancy.
Note here: The only name I found for a brother of Jonathan was George and I'm not crazy about that name so...
Last time:
Lois
I groaned. "How many people are we talking about here?"
He winced. "If everyone comes who's supposed to, seventy or eighty, maybe more. Don't expect to see Christopher the whole time."
"What? Why not?"
"He and Jerry – my cousin's newborn – will get passed from female relative to female relative – along with all other children not quite old enough to get away on their own. They all love babies. Well, all kids really."
"So what'll be expected of me then? If Christopher won't need me?"
"Well, there'll probably be a game of basketball or football or something during the afternoon. If the weather's nice, that is. It might rain tomorrow. Inside there will be a game tournament or two going on. I'm sure you'll hear plenty of embarrassing Clark as a kid stories, except that none of them know the really embarrassing stuff like when I accidentally looked through walls I shouldn't have because none of them know about the whole alien-baby-in-a-spaceship thing. I still think Granny might suspect something but..."
"Well, I won't mention it then. But I will manage to get all of the photo albums out and hear all the stories about little Clarkie Davis and slightly older Clarkie Kent."
He groaned. "Remind me to fly you somewhere far, far away and drop you off for a few hours tomorrow."
I laughed. "No such luck, mister."
*~*74*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
Lois and I were sitting on the couch as we heard tires beginning to crunch up the drive. I groaned when something occurred to me.
"Um, there may be a slight problem," I told her wincing slightly.
She sighed. "Figures. What?"
"It didn't even occur to me until just now, but a couple of my cousins are pretty good friends with Lana."
"Great."
"I don't think they'll say or do anything nasty, but..."
A tear streaked down her cheek and I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her towards me. I kissed her hair. "It'll be okay, I promise," I whispered.
"Yeah. Right."
Mom came in from the kitchen. "Nana and Pop Pop just pulled in with Jerry, Ana Mae and Jessica."
I looked through the wall. "That's Mom's folks and her brother, sister-in-law and their daughter who still lives at home," I told Lois. "And everyone knows there's no way you'll remember everyone – just so you know there's no pressure to. Ken and Kelly and their kids are pulling in, too. Ken's dad is Brandon, my dad's brother. Danielle and Tom are right behind them."
"I met Danielle right?" Lois asked. "In Bremerton?"
"Right. She's Chris' oldest sister Jenny's oldest daughter. They have a three-year-old named Amy."
I could hear the first car doors opening and closing, but kept my eyes on the road to the farm. "Most of the people who are going to be here are actually Chris' family. They weren't married very long, but Mom will always be family to them. Me too, even though they know I'm not Chris' biological son. And, of course, they all knew Dad, too and were happy to absorb him and his family into the Davis clan as well. I think there's forty some people in the area descended from Grandma and Grandpa Davis."
She leaned further against me and sighed.
"There's Debbie and Mark with Nancy, Brad and Donny. That's Chris' youngest older sister, and one of their daughters, son-in-law, and grandson." Another car turned in. "There's Jenny and James – Danielle's parents – with their middle daughter Lindsey and her husband, Darryl, and their little boy."
The door opened and the first of the family traipsed in. The big porch on the back of the house would serve as the buffet. We had a big picnic table under one of the trees and I knew that there would be plastic kids' picnic tables in the back of one or more trucks. There would also be tables and folding chairs and more food than any of us knew what to do with.
It was a good thing I didn't think I'd have to worry about cholesterol or anything like that because half of everything was fried.
I stood up and took Lois' hand, introducing her to the family that traipsed in, hugging both of us.
An hour later, Lois and I were sitting at one of the long table set up in the yard. For the moment, we were being left pretty well alone, though I knew that would change.
"I should have asked you last night," she started. "I need you to at least give me a quick rundown on the family."
I nodded, swallowing a bite of fried chicken. "Okay – Dad's family is easiest. Granny and his brother, Brandon. Brandon's married to Lisa. They have two boys – Ken and Keith – and they're both married and each have two kids."
She nodded. "Okay."
"Mom has two brothers and a sister. Joe and Vicki live near Kansas City and have three kids – Justin, Laura and John. They're all married and..." I thought for a minute. "...seven grandkids total. My Aunt Opal lives in St. Louis with her husband, Mike. They have two kids, Andrew and Alison. They're both married with two kids each. Her brother, Jerry, is the one who moved here right before she married Dad. He and Ana Mae have three girls – Jessica still lives at home and Diane and Vanessa are married and they each have one kid."
She sighed. "I'm never going to remember all this."
I laughed. "You don't have to. Just do your best and smile a lot."
She nodded. "Okay, Chris' family."
"Well, there's Grandma Davis-Lewis and her husband, Grandpa Lewis. Chris had three sisters. Jenny and James have three girls. You've met Danielle, and her sisters are Lindsey and Mary. They're all married and have five kids all together. Debbie and Mark have two boys – Mark Jr. and Matt – and two girls – Cathy and Nancy. All of them are married with six grandkids total. Last, but not least, is Dorrie and Lance. They have two boys – Lawrence and Jerome. They're married and have three kids between them."
She sat back. "Whew. How do you remember all that?"
I smiled at her and leaned closer to whisper. "Eidetic memory."
She looked straight at me. "What?"
My brow furrowed. "I never told you that?"
She shook her head. "No. At least I know how you get such good grades though."
Danielle chose that moment to put a plate down in front of us. "Lois, I never had a chance to thank you," she said without preamble as she pulled out a chair.
Lois glanced at me. "For what?"
"I know how bad that storm was and you saved my cousin's life. We were so worried when no one heard from you guys..." Tears filled her eyes. "We were afraid you were stuck in the car somewhere and we'd never see either of you again. Thank you."
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I'd practically forgotten about that.
Well, not really, but I certainly hadn't expected anyone to mention it.
I reached over and grasped Clark's hand lightly. "I'm glad I was able to get us somewhere safe."
Danielle looked uneasy for a minute. "Um, without getting too... indelicate... That's where Christopher came from?"
Clark and I glanced at each other. I nodded. "Yeah," I said quietly. I glanced around and realized we were still basically alone. "I hate that everyone thinks Clark cheated on his girlfriend, but we were both in such a bad spot that night. If the car had stopped even... a hundred feet further away from the cabin, I don't know that we would have made it that far." Tears filled my eyes as I remembered the long walk and subsequent cabin adventure that night. "Neither one of us really knows what happened, just that it did."
More family started pouring out of the porch, spilling into the yard and heading to the tables. Clark and I had been given the first spots in line since the whole thing was in our honor. The line started on the other side of the house, snaked into the living room and through the kitchen and out the back door. Big fifty gallon drums were filled with ice and drinks. From there family members had several big tables to choose from with the plastic picnic tables set up for the kids and several blankets strewn about the yard as well.
Martha had gotten Christopher up as everyone started arriving and he'd started fussing. Clark was right. It was unlikely I'd see him again until he wanted to nurse.
I smiled as I watched them. She was being the proud grandma and showing him off to everyone as she circulated through the line.
"Um, Clark," I started. "You said it was supposed to rain later. Where on earth will everyone go if it does?"
He laughed. "Some of the local family will probably head home if it's too bad. Otherwise, we'll end up with groups of people in our house, Granny's house, and the barn."
I looked at all the young children in the area. "And what about naptimes? There's no way..."
Danielle and Clark both laughed. "Only the littlest ones will take naps," she said. "The others will be too excited and then fall asleep as soon as they hit Twentieth Road on the way home. Some of the older kids will end up camping out in the barn and hoping they 'accidentally' oversleep and miss church in the morning."
Clark rolled his eyes. "They have to know that my parents would never let that happen. And that their parents wouldn't either."
Danielle shrugged. "You and I both know that, but how many times did any of the rest of us do that?"
"You've got a point."
They continued chatting as I took in the scene. The yard was rapidly filling up with people and a couple more cars pulled down the drive. This was what I'd always thought a big family dinner in the country would be like. Parents with small kids got to go to the front of the line because everyone knew the cranky factor would rev up if they had to wait. The older kids and those without little ones chatted with family members they hadn't seen in a while, catching up on all the news as they waited in line. The exceptions, of course, were Clark's grandparents; they were in line right after us.
I saw some of the teenage cousins talking. My eyes narrowed as I watched a few of them. If I didn't know better, I'd think two of them were flirting. How... Arkansas. They were *cousins*.
No, not necessarily, I realized. Sure, everyone in the yard was related to Clark in some way – either by adoption or marriage or both – but it seemed likely that many of them weren't actually related to each other.
Before long, the last of the stragglers finished filling their plates. Before anyone could really start heading for seconds, Jonathan stood up and whistled loudly.
The chatter immediately stopped and everyone turned to face him.
"Everybody, welcome back to the Kent family farm. It's been a long time since we've had everyone together for a big ole shindig like this but here we are. I'm sure everyone knows the real reason for this gathering is to officially welcome two of the newest members of our family." He turned towards us. "All of you know that about fifteen months ago, our very own Clark got married and last summer, his wife, Lois, gave birth to our first grandchild."
He cleared his throat. "I know I've said it before to the whole Davis family, but I'm grateful that you accepted me as a part of your family and never once suggested that I was trying to take Chris' spot in Martha and Clark's hearts or that I wanted them to forget about him. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. I'm honored that my first grandson is named after Clark's first real dad, Christopher. I know he's already made the rounds a bit today and I'm sure you'll all get a chance to meet him before the day's out."
He looked around then turned towards us. "I'm not quite sure where the little guy is right now, but Clark, why don't you two stand up. I'm sure you'll all get a chance to say hello later, but..." He winked at me. "Ladies and gentlemen of Clark Kent's extended family, I'd like to officially introduce for the first time at a family gathering, Clark and Lois Kent."
There was applause and cat calls from around the yard as Clark put his arm around me.
"Kiss her, Cuz!" came a call from across the yard.
The chorus immediately started up from all sectors. "Kiss her!"
I looked up at Clark who was turning bright red. He looked back at me and shrugged. "Guess we've got no choice." He grinned, but only I could tell that it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Hold on."
With that he dipped me to one side and kissed me.
The dip meant that most of the family couldn't really see that our lips were really only lightly pressed together.
Cheers and whistles filled the yard as he pulled me back up. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. I put my arms around him and rested my forehead on his chest, refusing to look at the assembled masses.
I could feel Clark's voice rumbling in his chest as he spoke. "Actually, we were honored to name our son after both of my dads. Christopher Jonathan."
There was a loud whistle from somewhere.
"Kiss her again!"
I rolled my eyes, as Clark kissed my head.
"You can do better than that!"
Everyone laughed as Clark hollered, "As you were."
Laughter filled the yard and the chatter resumed its previous levels.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I should have known something like that would happen.
I thought we'd pulled it off pretty well. Things were so much better between us, but affection like kissing was reserved for in public only.
I noticed the bodyguards who had come with us unobtrusively mingling with the family. If pressed, they would say they were good friends of Lois' family who happened to be driving through southeast Kansas and stopped by for a few days. It was close enough to the truth. They had an RV parked in the yard. It was a place for them to sleep and was filled with assorted pieces of surveillance equipment. The company Sam hired had a couple of them and they were driven places on an as needed basis. Apparently, they'd also contacted the FBI offices in Kansas City, Tulsa and Wichita to let them know we'd be in the area – none of the towns between them and Smallville were big enough to have their own offices.
We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with many of the members of my extended family. When dusk fell, my cousin, Keith – Dad's nephew – who had brought his video projector set it up and between him and a couple others a sound system had been put in place.
The first feature was kid-friendly 'Cars'. Lois had been adopted by Danielle's daughter, Amy so they watched it together. When it ended, the families with small kids left, many of them stopping by to give us hugs as they did. When the commotion had calmed down, they started 'Cheaper by the Dozen'.
I settled down with my back to a tree and Lois sat in front of me a blanket pulled over her.
"Cold?" I asked her quietly.
She nodded. "A little bit."
"Shift the blanket a bit."
She did and I managed to shoot a bit of heat vision at her legs. I wrapped my arms around her and we stayed there for most of the movie. I made a couple trips to get popcorn and refresh our drinks, but otherwise we were together.
When it was over, Keith stood up and made an announcement. "Okay, enough with the girlie stuff. Now it's time for some shoot 'em on the big..." He gestured towards the barn. "Um, well, it's not a screen, but you know..."
The guys, including me, cheered and the women all groaned.
"Final feature of the night," he proclaimed loudly, "'Independence Day'."
"That's Laurel's favorite movie," I told a laughing Lois.
"Figures," she whispered. "Besides, I think watching your cousins get blown up on the big... barn could be a lot of fun."
I groaned and pulled her closer to me as the movie started.
*****
TBC
