Thanks to Alisha, Beth, and Nancy!
Last time:
Lois
The drive went quickly and Clark clutched Christopher to him as we realized that there was no car seat for him. There was another news vehicle across the street from the street leading to the farmhouse. The car pulled around to the other side so we'd be out of view of the cameras as we were hustled into the house.
The red haired Sceve took the car back out to the drive to stand guard and only allow those who should have access onto the road.
Brunette Sceve turned on the television in the living room and tuned to ANC.
"And now to Lindsey Sweeny, from our Wichita affiliate currently in Smallville, Kansas. Lindsey?"
"The car behind me is blocking the road to a farm near Smallville. The farm belongs to Jonathan and Martha Kent, parents of Clark Kent. According to an anonymous tip received at the main ANC headquarters this morning, Clark Kent and his wife, Lois, are the American couple detained by General Navance in Latislan nearly two years ago. It has been confirmed that they were married in Latislan in early January 2003. As our viewers may remember, General Navance claimed Lois Kent's baby. Under Latislani law, he can claim any baby he wants, essentially, unless the mother is married. They were married at the U. S. Embassy in Latislan on January 3, 2003. The anonymous source says that Clark Kent is *not* the father of Lois Kent's baby but that he married her simply to keep Navance away from her and her child."
The picture shifted to the cemetery where I could see members of Clark's family still milling about. A 'moments ago' graphic appeared in the top corner of the screen as the three of us were rushed to the waiting car before it cut back to a live shot of Clark's family getting into their cars. There were shouted questions at a couple of them, but none of them knew anything.
As ANC cut back to the presidential election, I realized they were all headed towards the farmhouse and I could only imagine the eruption that was about to take place.
*~*84*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
Who had let the cat out of the bag?
"Everyone's on their way here, right?" Scott asked me.
I nodded. "Pot luck dinner again."
"Okay. Steve's got the road blocked and is contacting the Sheriff's office. He's going to get them to block off 20th between Anderson and Brown and hope there's some local ordinance to get the news van that's already there out. The only cars that will be allowed in are those who know you guys and are on their way here. Your road is the only one on 20th so the rest of the traffic can be rerouted."
"Thanks," I said as I sank onto the couch. Lois had taken Christopher to change his diaper.
The phone rang and, like an idiot, I picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Is this the Kent residence?" came an unfamiliar voice.
"Yes."
"Can you confirm that Lois Kent's child is also the child of General Navance?"
I managed to squeak out a "No comment" as I hung up. I turned the ringers off and set the answering machine to pick up on the first ring.
"Clark?" a voice called out as the door flung open.
"In here, Mom."
Mom, Dad and Nana traipsed in.
I looked at Nana. "I'm so sorry."
She gave me a big hug. "You owe me the whole story, young man."
"I know, Nana," I said quietly. "And I'm so sorry that this happened today."
Nana turned to Dad. "Can we go to your mom's house and talk? Let everyone else come over here for now."
Dad nodded. "She knows about most of this," he said with a sigh. "She won't mind if we use her living room."
Mom went to get Lois and we headed towards Granny's house across the yard. Scott stayed between Lois and Christopher and everyone else as they followed us.
Cars were pulling into the farmyard and parking along the gravel roads and in the grass. I avoided looking at any of them. The day was bad enough without adding unwelcome press coverage.
We made it to Granny's living room.
Lois held Christopher close to her as I told Nana the whole story.
She was more sympathetic than I would have expected under the circumstances. She'd, literally, just buried the love of her life and she was worried about us and Christopher.
"Well, it'll blow over pretty soon," she said pragmatically. "The election is in nine days and it's overwhelming all other news. You'll be a flash in the pan."
"Thank goodness," Lois mumbled.
Sam walked in just then. "Is everyone okay?"
We all nodded.
"The Sceves got us out pretty quickly," Lois said. "And made sure that news truck didn't see us."
I never had understood why Lois couldn't keep the two main bodyguards straight, but they thought it was funny that she'd taken to calling both of them Sceve.
She turned to Nana. "I'm so sorry I've dragged your whole family into this."
Nana was being very understanding, but somehow I doubted the rest of the family would.
"We're going to head out early," I told Nana. "If we leave, the news crews should, too."
"Nonsense. I want my whole family here – including my great-grandson. They won't get on private property anyway. And if they decide to come after me at home, when I go home tonight, well, I know how to use a shotgun. But I promise you, it'll blow over by tomorrow. Some October surprise will come out and everyone will forget all about the three of you."
"I hope so," Martha said quietly.
If I had my abilities, I'd be able to just get us out of here, but I didn't have them. And we still hadn't dealt with that green rock – whatever it was.
I sighed as I headed back towards the main house. It was sure to be jam packed with curious relatives and I was sure they'd had the news on by now.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I stayed behind as Clark and Daddy and Jonathan headed back to the farmhouse. I didn't want to be there, to see the looks. To know that they knew that it wasn't just that Clark had gotten me pregnant that had forced us to marry. Not that Clark had gotten me pregnant, but that part of the truth wasn't coming out.
Martha sat by me on Granny's couch. "What is it?"
"I can't believe this is happening. Today of all days."
Nana stood. "I'm going over there. I want to make sure that no member of my family gets upset on *my* behalf."
In a minute, it was just me and Martha – and Christopher who was toddling around.
"How are you?" she asked quietly.
"I should be asking you that," I told her. "I'm so sorry about all this."
"It's okay. You didn't do it. You aren't responsible for the crazies in the world."
"Nana's being a lot more understanding than I would be, I think," I said honestly. "She just lost her husband of what? Nearly fifty years?"
She nodded. "She's a strong woman, but somehow I don't know that she'll be with us long. I think she's already anxious to see Pop again."
"I've read that," I said, glad not to have been the one who brought it up.
"Love isn't who you can live with; it's who you can't live without," Martha said quietly. "I don't know how many times both of them said that to all of us. That defines Mom and Pop's relationship."
I sighed. "I shouldn’t let Clark deal with all this alone. None of it is his fault."
"How's he feeling? Really?"
"Better, I think. He seems... fine, but not super or whatever." I stood and picked Christopher up. "Come on, big man. Time to face the music. Maybe with you there, they'll go easy on your mom."
"If they're not, they'll have to answer to me."
I didn't think anyone wanted to mess with Martha. I was sure glad she was on my side.
There was quiet chatter in the farmhouse that stopped when we walked in.
"As you were," Martha snapped as the silence seemed to stretch into eternity. Slowly the volume returned, but remained subdued.
It was two hours before most of the crowd had left.
Not one of them had said anything to me.
Not even Danielle.
"How are you?" Jonathan asked, sitting next to me.
I shrugged. "Wish none of this had ever happened," I said, the tears finally threatening to overflow.
He put an arm around me and pulled me to his side. "Me, too. For your sake. For Christopher's sake. For Clark's sake."
"Mostly for Clark's sake," I said. "He wouldn't be in this mess..." I let my voice trail off. That was almost too much.
"Maybe – in a sense – it's for the best. What would the two of you have done if he hadn't forced you to get married? Would Clark still be with Lana? Would he be a part-time dad at best? Would you have even realized that Christopher was his baby? And if so, how hard would it have been for you to tell your roommate, your friend who was engaged to someone else, that you were having his baby? Would you have considered not telling him? And, given the situation, I can see how tempting that would have been."
I shrugged against him. "I don't know what I would have done," I told him honestly. I wouldn't have told Clark I was having his baby because I wouldn’t have thought I was. The thought that the dream of Clark and I together in front of that fire wasn't a dream but a fuzzy reality had occurred to me but I had no idea how – or even if – to broach the subject with Clark. I didn't know what – if anything – he remembered.
Nana came in just then and said her good-byes; that it was time for her to go home.
She gave me an extra long hug and told me she loved me before she left, thanking me for coming but being gracious enough not to mention the fact that I'd ruined an already difficult day.
Jessica, who wasn’t known to anyone, was going back to Danielle's house to get our things and bring them back so we could stay at the more easily protected farmhouse.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I set the bags down on our bed. There was comfort in being back in Metropolis. Hopefully, my family in Smallville would be left alone since we weren't there anymore.
Fortunately, the Pittsdale police weren't going to allow vehicles parked on the street and Sam's neighbors weren't going to allow news crews to use their property either.
They were still replaying the video of Lois, Christopher and I being hustled from the graveside service, but it was getting less time, less often already. Nana was right. One of the candidates had said something to a Joe on the street and his comment had taken over the news cycle.
My family had disappointed me. I freely admitted that. Except for my parents and Nana, they'd essentially snubbed Lois once the story came out.
I had to admit, though, if I'd found out something similar about one of my cousins the day we buried my grandpa, I might not be any better.
No, I probably wouldn't be any better.
I sighed. I thought Lois maybe blamed me for that or something. She'd been quiet since the family had left the night before and the pillow that used to mark the no-man's land in the middle of the bed was back in place when I made it to my old room the night before.
Since our anniversary, the pillow had virtually disappeared. Well, not disappeared, but there had been no physical barriers between us at night. That wasn't to say that I held her or her me every night – or even most nights – but it was a sign of how far our relationship had come.
And how quickly it had fallen apart, or seemed to be falling apart.
She'd been up before me and as we packed and headed towards the airport, the only thing she'd said to me while we were alone was to ask me how I was feeling. And I was still better, just not... great.
The trip home had been quiet. The FBI had worked with Steve and Scott and we'd been kept in a private room until time to board the plane. We'd waited to be the last off and had been escorted privately to where Ollie and Vicki were waiting for us.
I took Christopher's suitcase to his room and sorted out the dirty clothes into his hamper. I did the same with my suitcase and put away the clothes neither of us had worn. I left Lois' suitcase in the closet for her to deal with. She wouldn't have wanted me messing with her clothes a week earlier when things were pretty good with us; she definitely wouldn't want me to now.
I tried to turn my hearing on to see where she and Christopher were and to my surprise, it kicked in. They were in the kitchen and I headed to join them.
We spent the rest of the evening talking around each other and near each other but I doubted if anyone would noticed that we hadn't actually spoken *to* each other.
The room was nearly silent when I made it back, putting Christopher to bed before I sank on the couch. I was feeling the loss of my grandfather pretty keenly. I missed him. If this had come out two weeks earlier when we'd been in Smallville for the Corn Festival, I'd have been able to call him up and talk to him about it.
'Love isn't who you can live with, Clarkie, love is who you can't live without,' he'd have said. 'You can't live without that wife and son of yours so you best do whatever you have to to keep them safe.' Only Pop Pop had ever gotten away with calling me Clarkie – except Lana when she was trying to wheedle me into telling her something or into doing something for her.
I refused to dwell on the thought of life without Christopher, but eventually, Lois would have a much reduced role in my life. Whether Lana would be willing to take on a divorced guy with a son or not was still up for grabs.
What did it mean that I'd been able to live without Lana? The first year had been hard – very hard – and I probably wouldn't describe it as 'living'. Existing, maybe but not living. But now... Now I was living without her. I decided that either Nana and Pop Pop had been wrong all these years or... I refused to delve into what it meant that I had a good life without Lana in it for the moment.
I'd seen her for just a minute at the cemetery. We'd been rushed passed her to the car. She looked like she was going to cry, but then a bit puzzled – just like everyone else – by what was going on. I'd been too focused on getting out of there with Lois and Christopher to wonder why she'd come home or if she was coming to the house afterwards – she hadn't and I was glad.
I changed into a pair of sleep shorts and clicked on the TV finding a new episode of the Mt. Everest series on Discovery. I still hadn't taken Lois there. We hadn't flown anywhere since we went to the Great Wall.
The water in the shower turned off and I was glad to see she was in a favorite pair of flannel pajamas when she came out of the bathroom.
"You're feeling better?" she asked.
I nodded. "I wondered if you'd picked up on that."
"I did."
I heard her get into bed, but didn't turn. Instead, I turned the volume down a bit.
"Leave it up," she told me. "I'll watch from here."
She was fascinated with Everest, I knew. That's why she wanted to go.
One of these days, I'd have to take her.
Maybe.
If we got past this whatever it was sometime soon.
*****
TBC
