Last time:
Clark
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.
*~*85*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
Clark had flipped to something else when the Everest show was over. I slid further down into bed and 'accidentally' moved one of the pillows to the middle of the bed. I didn't know when he'd done it the night before, but I'd woken up in Smallville to find the pillow back.
My heart had broken. Again.
Things had been so much better between us and this had to happen.
It wasn't the pillow itself, but what it represented. The distance between us. There hadn't been anything between us like that since we'd had it out on our anniversary. The night in Smallville I guessed Clark had moved it. This first night at home – I did. I couldn't handle official rejection by Clark again so I had to do it first. I willed the tears back into the depths of my eyes as I dozed off.
He was gone when I woke up the next morning.
The phone rang and I picked it up, wondering if it was his lawyer or something. Now that the news was out, why would he stay right?
"Hello?"
"Lois?"
"Yeah?" I asked hesitantly. I doubted the media or anyone had this number – except, I groaned internally, the Daily Planet. Would anyone there have made the connection? Surely Billy and Serena would have.
"This is Serena." Yep. She had.
"Hi," I said quietly.
"I saw this story on the news yesterday," she said hesitantly.
"I'm sure you did," I replied softly.
"Perry assigned it to some new guy named Ralph. He couldn't write his way out of a paper sack if you gave him step-by-step instructions Christopher could follow."
I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks."
"Billy and I thought about offering to write it, thinking we could do a good job, but the more we thought about it, the more we thought we'd just see what Perry did with it. If he gave it a lot of attention, we'd volunteer, but he didn't. It'll probably be on page Z83 at this rate. If it even makes it into the paper at all given how well Ralph writes. There's too much going on in the presidential race for Perry to take much time on it and there's no way Ralph'll realize that you two actually work for the Planet unless someone tells him. The research that would go into finding out the ingredients for boiling water would challenge him."
I smiled. "Thanks, Serena."
"Ruining your lives isn't newsworthy."
"Jimmy knows," I told her. "Would you two like to come over for dinner one night soon and we'll tell you the whole story? Off the record?"
"I'd like that."
We spoke for a few more minutes and then I had to get ready for school.
By the time I made it to work, I was on edge. Clark and I had hardly spoken all day – the drive to campus had been nearly silent as had the drive to work. I was sure he hated me – his family seemed to. I'd gotten an email from Danielle earlier saying she was sorry she'd had to run out but Amy had spiked a fever and she'd had to get her home. She said if I ever needed anything, to let her know.
I wondered if she had any experience with assassinations.
It was nice to know she didn't hate me, at least.
I was sure we'd walk into the Planet and everyone would realize that we'd been on the news, but if they did, no one said anything. I made it through the day and breathed a sigh of relief when I clocked out. Clark was leaning against the Jeep when I got there and the ride home was just as quiet as the rest of our trips had been that day.
We were nearly home when Clark finally spoke.
"I'm sorry for the way my family was the other night."
I shrugged. "Not your fault. And it's not like I really know any of them or anything. I'm sure that they would have rushed to my defense or whatever if I was someone they'd known a long time or they'd known well – like Lana." I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice.
"Maybe. I think a big part of it was the timing and the shock of it. They'll get over it."
I shrugged. "Maybe."
"I'm sorry I didn't really notice Saturday night. Every time I saw you, you were talking to one of my parents or Granny or Nana or getting food surrounded by a crowd of people."
"There's a difference between being surrounded by a crowd and being a part of it," I told him quietly.
"I know."
We drove in silence for a few more minutes. "Any thoughts on who did it?" he asked me.
"No," I said, shaking my head. I hesitated. "I thought it might be Lana but I saw her Saturday after the news crews showed up and she didn't look like she was gloating or anything like that."
"I don't think she would. I don't think she ever put two and two together."
I pulled up in front of the house and we headed inside.
*~*~*
November 2004
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
It had been nearly six weeks since Pop Pop died. Six long weeks.
I still missed Pop Pop. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief as the mini-firestorm over our identities blew over quickly.
Thanksgiving had been good. Mom, Dad, Granny and Jimmy joined us at the cabin again for the holiday and this year the four of us were going to head to Smallville on Christmas Eve. The semester was almost over – which was a relief. We were going to be interviewing for spring internships before Christmas and I was sure Lois was as nervous as I was about that.
Since we both worked at the Planet, an interview was practically guaranteed but an internship wasn't and competition was fierce.
But I really had no idea how Lois was feeling about it. Since Pop Pop died and our names came out, the distance between us had grown by leaps and bounds. It was almost like déjà vu to the year before, except that Christopher was walking and talking.
"What're we doing for Christmas this year?" Lois asked without preamble as she tossed her bag on the bed.
I looked up at her. "We're going to Smallville."
She rolled her eyes. "Gifts. What're we doing for gifts?"
"For each other?"
She looked like she wanted to say something sarcastic but bit her tongue. "Yeah."
I shrugged. Last year had gone fine. Lois had bought me a great leather jacket that I loved and I'd gotten her a mother's necklace like she'd suggested. They had some options that had a spot for the parent's birthstones, too, but I hadn't even thought about one of those.
"What do you want?" I finally asked.
She shrugged. "No idea."
I'd had a couple of ideas earlier in the year, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to get her. I hadn't really thought about it much since Pop Pop died. I hadn't thought about gifts for anyone really. I needed to get on that.
She sighed. "Well, think about it and let me know."
I nodded. "NCIS is paused for you."
"Thanks."
I knew she'd done the NaNo thing again this year and that she finished with a couple days left. I'd never seen the one from the year before and somehow I doubted I'd see this year's project either. Maybe I'd do it next year; write my own great American novel.
"What about Christopher?" she asked.
"What about him?"
"Have you gotten him anything for Christmas yet?"
I shook my head. "No, not yet. You?"
She sighed. "Some clothes and I was thinking about one of the little red tricycles."
"That'd be good. What about a red wagon to go with it?"
"That works. You get that and I'll get the trike."
Well, that was settled apparently. She headed into the bathroom to get ready for bed.
So Christopher was taken care of as far as Christmas gifts went. When we'd talked about it on the way the Corn Festival, we'd talked about going together on gifts for Ollie and Vicki and their family, Sam, Jessica, Jimmy and a few others, but now that we were barely speaking again, who knew?
And, of course, right after Christmas was our second anniversary and we'd be back at the cabin for that. Sam had mentioned it to me a couple days earlier. I'd thought this year would be better – more like the end of last year – but I guessed not. They were going to be tense and awkward like most of that first year had been. Like the first day of our anniversary trip last year.
Lois came back out and took the TIVO remote when I handed it to her.
I stayed on the couch while she curled up in a chair and turned NCIS on.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I frowned as I stared at the screen. I was caught up on my schoolwork, but the wording on this particular sentence was eluding me.
I'd finished my fifty thousand words before Thanksgiving. It helped that my relationship with my husband was in the tank. I'd gotten lots of writing done after Christopher went to bed. The story I'd written the year before had been well received. I'd lucked out when I signed up for the main NCIS fic boards and the name 'Thom E Gemcity' had been available. Of course, I'd signed up the night the show had revealed Timothy McGee's secret double life as the very popular mystery novelist with that as his nom de plume and I'd snatched that name up.
That was when I'd first heard about the whole Nanowrimo thing. It was too late to start that year, but I'd finished last year. This year, I'd finished my word count, but the story wasn’t finished.
I frowned again as I tried to figure out how to get Tony – the perpetual womanizer – to tell Abby – one of his best friends – that he'd fallen in love with her while they were undercover. Or rather that he'd realized he'd loved her for a long time but while they were hiding out in the honeymoon suite and had kissed to maintain their cover, he'd realized that he felt things for her that were beyond anything he'd ever felt for another girl – even Jeanne, his serious girlfriend he'd used as part of another undercover operation.
Getting them undercover together had been a bit convoluted, because – face it – as a forensic scientist, Abby didn't do much field work. But I'd done it. I'd set up in what I felt was a moderately plausible manner and now was the moment of truth.
I smacked my laptop shut. It wasn't coming to me. The unrequited love thing was easy to write. The final scene where the couple realizes they're in love... Not so much given the current state of my love life.
"I thought you were done," Clark said, walking in.
"I finished my word count, not the story."
"Ah." He hesitated. "Did you ever post last year's anywhere?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Earlier this year."
I thought he looked slightly hurt when I told him that, but, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. I wasn't about to tell him I had the free bound copy very well hidden. My first book.
I was going to write an original work one year and see if I could actually get it published, but not this year.
"So what're you stuck at?" he asked sitting in the chair across from me.
I shrugged. "Just the final, getting together scene."
"Where Tony and Abby declare their undying love?"
"Something like that."
"Did you manage to get Ziva and McGee together?"
"Nope. Can't see the Mossad assassin and the computer geek together. She did manage to whack a dictator from a small Southeastern European country, though."
There was a small smile on his face. "Good for her."
I sighed and stared out the window, grateful for the blazing fire as snow drifted down slowly outside. I'd finish it another day.
"When's your interview with Perry White?" he asked suddenly.
"Thursday. You?"
"Same." He hesitated slightly. "Would you like to go to lunch for luck?"
I shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
Well, that was something. A lunch date was better than nothing and 'nothing' was where we'd been since we got back from Smallville.
Mom had mentioned something in passing at Thanksgiving and I'd tried to write it off as my continued grief over Pop Pop. I didn't think she'd bought it.
Christopher started crying suddenly. Lois and I exchanged glances. He hadn't woken up crying in a long time.
"I got it," I told her as she started to get up.
I walked into his room and he was standing in his crib, crying his eyes out.
"Hey, bud," I said softly as I picked him up. "What's the matter?"
He popped his pacifier back in his mouth and rested his head on my shoulder, snuggling down into my arms, but still sniffling as we settled into the glider.
"What's wrong, little man?"
"'anpa," he said between sniffles.
"Grandpa?" Grandpa was Sam. Gramps was my dad.
"'anpa," he repeated.
"Grandpa's sleeping, bud. We'll see him tomorrow."
"Mama," he said.
I stood up and headed towards our room. "Someone's looking for his mom," I said as I handed him off.
"Hey, Christopher," Lois said softly as he settled into her arms. "What's wrong?"
"'anpa," he said again.
She looked at me, puzzled.
I shrugged. "That's all he said except asking for you."
"You want to see Grandpa?" Lois asked him.
"'anpa."
She shrugged. "Let's go." She turned to me. "Can you do your whole hearing thing and see where he is?"
"Sure." I listened for Sam's heartbeat and found it in the kitchen, but...
I was sure my face drained of color. I zipped to the door leading out of our wing. "Call 911!" I called as I waited impatiently for the keypad to keep up with me.
"What's wrong?"
"Call 911!" I said again before speeding through the now-open door.
I thought I saw her grabbing her cell phone as she started following me.
"Use the keypad," I hollered. When Sam had the system put in, he'd made sure that there was a way to call all kinds of emergency personnel from all the security keypads. All she'd have to do is punch in the medical emergency code and the security system would send a signal to wherever it sent a signal to and medical help would be on its way – likely with the fire department and police in tow – and the gates would be opened so they wouldn't have to be buzzed in. It also sent a signal to Ollie and Vicki's house. There was a one-touch option, too, but then they called the house and wanted to verify an emergency and that took time. Sam had wanted something faster; a more immediate option. The emergency signals we wore wouldn't work either because that would be a very different kind of response team.
All that flew through my head as I flew through the house and I was in the kitchen in a split-second. "Sam? Come on, Sam." I tried desperately to remember what I'd learned in the CPR course Sam had sent all of us through after Pop Pop.
Was he breathing?
Yes.
Did he have a pulse?
Yes, but it seemed erratic. Where had he put the Automatic External Defibrillator? I knew he kept one for 'just in case' something happened during a fancy shindig. It would be in the wet bar, I thought. I rushed through the house, grabbed it and rushed back.
I followed the directions and hooked it up to him after I ripped his shirt open. I breathed a sigh of relief as it said he didn't need to be shocked.
I didn't realize how quickly I had done all of that until Lois rushed into the room, carrying Christopher. I'd done all of that in the time it had taken her to get from our room to the kitchen.
She stopped in her tracks at the sight of her dad on the tile floor.
"Daddy," she whispered. "No."
*****
TBC
