Last time:
Lois
That just left Clark.
"I just don't know what to get him," I told Vicki as we sat on the food court. "He hasn't mentioned anything that he wants or needs and I can't think of anything." I *wanted* to do something nice for him, but I had no idea what. Ski weekend with Jimmy? They already had one planned for February.
"What about a vacation?" she asked suddenly.
"What?" I took a drink of my soda.
"You could probably get a good deal on a cruise or something between Christmas and the time school starts. You two have never been on a vacation together," she pointed out.
I sighed. Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. "I'll talk to Dad's travel agent and see what he can get for me. If we go then, I won't be sick yet, hopefully."
We finished our milkshakes before we headed towards the restaurants to get the gift cards and then drove by the travel agency to see if Vinnie was in and he was. I found a cruise I could afford – though the room wasn't quite as nice as it would have been if Daddy had planned a trip, but that was okay; *I* didn't have his kind of money yet – but I could afford one of the smaller rooms, with no balcony. I bit my lip. Clark didn't like flying much – though he'd gotten better at it; would he be okay with a cabin without a balcony?
I sighed. Was this really a good idea? A week alone with Clark? But we wouldn't be *alone*. We could do whatever we wanted and that didn't have to be together.
And there wouldn't be any Latislani spies on board either.
I sighed and Vinnie and I decided on a cruise, flights – for the day after he was supposed to get back from Smallville – and on a room. Daddy had travel insurance that would cover the costs if something happened and we needed to cancel for any reason.
Of course, we'd also said that we wouldn't have to do Christmas for each other this year because we weren't going to be together.
Well, I'd keep the papers hidden and if the opportunity arose, I'd give it to him and if not, then I'd deal with that later.
*~*97*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I continued to mull over the conversation Lois and I had that morning while she and Vicki were Christmas shopping.
Christmas.
We still hadn't decided for sure what was going to happen with that. I thought Sam had something up his sleeve, like forcing Lois onto a plane or something, but I had no idea what it was.
I did know that Jimmy was going to be here – or at the cabin, whichever – for Christmas. His mom was able to go to Europe to see his dad again this year so he'd be with the Lanes.
One of us had made a comment about not needing to get each other something meaningful for Christmas this year since we weren't going to be spending it together.
I should still get her something – but what? She bought just about anything she wanted. A bound copy of her NaNo story? I'd looked at the website and I thought they gave one out so that wasn't going to work.
She didn't need clothes and she'd be in maternity clothes soon enough anyway.
Jewelry? Like what? I'd get a stone added to her necklace once the baby was born but it was too early to do that and too far away to give her an 'IOU' or something – if she was due in January maybe but not in August.
Was there a book she wanted? No. Movie? She bought them.
I had enough money in savings that I could do something nice for her – maybe that would show her... something. That I cared about her and not just because she was having my baby.
A contract on a Southeastern European dictator might say that.
I sighed.
"What's up?" Sam asked, looking up from the book he was reading.
"Huh?" I asked, looking him. We – and Christopher – were in the room that used to be his office but had been transformed into a comfortable living area and play room for us.
"You've been thinking hard about something."
"Yeah."
"So... what's up?"
"I still haven't come up with anything for Lois for Christmas or our anniversary," I admitted.
"I'm not sure I'll be much help. I haven't had too much luck either."
There was something on his face that made me not quite believe him, but I wasn't sure what it was.
"I think I've got everyone else taken care of," I told him, "but Lois..." I sighed again. "I'm just not coming up with anything." I ran through the list out loud and he agreed with my assessment of all of them – though I didn't mention the NaNo thing, because I didn't think he knew about that.
"Well, you're going to the cabin for your anniversary, right?"
I shrugged. "We've mentioned it in passing, but that's it."
"I know it's not much, but make her favorite dinner or something? Whatever her idea – and I don't really need to know what it is, by the way – of a romantic evening is?"
"Yeah, I can do that." Maybe. At least take her flying or something – maybe that trip to Everest we'd talked about several times. I didn't know about 'romantic' but her favorite dinner and a night flight – that I could do.
"Well, that takes care of your anniversary then – unless you come up with something else great in the meantime."
"But that leaves Christmas," I said with a sigh.
"What about something for work?" Sam said thoughtfully. "She just got the internship."
I nodded. "That might work – a nice briefcase or something?"
"I don't know what your budget is, but I can point you in the right direction for something like that. Or maybe a nice pen and pencil set?"
"Something she'll use as a reporter," I said thoughtfully. "She's already got a good PDA."
"A tape recorder?"
I nodded slightly, but... did anyone use tape recorders anymore? "Thanks, Sam. That helps."
That was a relief. I could get them and if we didn't do gifts, then I could return them or give them to her anyway – maybe that would help make up for being a cad on her birthday the year before.
"What about a day at the spa or a massage or something?" Sam added thoughtfully.
I nodded. I thought she'd appreciate that. Maybe the work stuff for Christmas and a spa gift certificate for our anniversary. "That's a great idea."
Sam chuckled suddenly. "I doubt a year's supply of Saltines would go over well."
I winced. "Probably not."
Just then, Vicki and Lois walked in the door. She only had one big bag, but it looked like there were several smaller bags inside it.
"Get it all done?" Sam asked.
She nodded. "Sure did, Daddy."
"Good."
She headed up the winding stairs to our section of the house. I watched as she went, glad that I had all that figured out.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I wasn't going to see him for the better part of the next two weeks and I didn’t want to let him go.
I'd used my ticket to get past security so I could wait with Clark and Christopher. He didn't understand why his mom was kind of teary and I doubted Clark understood why it was harder than he would have expected. I still hadn't decided if I was going to give him the cruise or not, but if I did... Well, it would be the longest I'd ever gone without my son – and then some.
The plane pulled up to the gate and they'd be boarding as soon as the turn around on it was done. We didn't pay any attention but both played with Christopher instead.
"Lois! Clark!"
Both of our heads jerked up.
"Mom? Dad?" Clark asked, puzzled.
"Martha? Jonathan?" I asked at the same time.
"What are you guys doing here?" Hugs were given all around as Clark spoke.
"Sam arranged it. Danielle and Tom ended up staying in town and said they'd keep an eye on the farm for us," Martha said, taking Christopher from me. "It was his idea for us to get off the plane you were getting on."
We chatted for another minute and Clark went over to the ticket counter to tell them that we needed to get their bags off. The clerk called down to the baggage handlers and said that they'd put the bags on with the ones that were now being taken off the plane.
We headed towards baggage claim and were soon on our way back to the house.
Daddy was waiting, of course. He gave me a big hug. "Merry Christmas, Princess. I knew you'd want your whole family here."
"Thanks, Daddy."
It now made sense why he'd said he wasn't feeling well most of the day and why we'd eventually decided to have Christmas with him and Christopher after they got back from Smallville.
"Are you really feeling okay?" I asked, as he kept his arms around me.
"Yeah, sweetheart. I am."
I smacked him lightly. "Don’t worry me like that."
He laughed. "Sorry."
We spent the rest of the night playing games in the living room. Martha and I beat all three of the men in a game of Trivial Pursuit and another of Taboo.
It was late by the time we ended up in our room.
"There's something I meant to mention," Clark said as we got ready for bed.
"What's that?" I called from the bathroom, taking a deep breath as I pulled out the red nightgown I'd worn the year before.
"I did get you something for Christmas. I know we'd said we weren't going to and if you didn't, that's fine, but I wanted to mention it to you before tomorrow."
I put the red nightgown back on the shelf and pulled some warm flannel pajamas off the shelf – covered with reindeer, they were a much safer choice. We always spent all day Christmas day in our pajamas and I certainly wouldn't have worn the red nightgown, but I decided that – knowing what it was like to be with Clark, really be with him – I couldn't deal with his lack of interest on Christmas Eve.
He'd probably be relieved, too.
"Anyway, I can give it to you now or tomorrow. Your choice."
I went back into our room and climbed into bed. "Tomorrow is fine," I told him. I thought about telling him that I had something for him but decided not to. If he bought me an orange or something, then there was no way I'd give him a cruise in front of family and friends. I'd hang on to it until near the end and then make my decision. If he had gotten me fruit – or a Cheese of the Month Club membership or something equally ridiculous – I'd just say that I'd ordered his and it wasn't here yet and deal with it later.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
I changed Christopher's diaper and we headed downstairs. Lois was still asleep and I didn't want to wake her up before absolutely necessary. She was going to need all the rest she could get to get through this pregnancy.
Christopher thought all the presents under the tree were way cool. The night before, while my parents and Lois were waiting for luggage, I'd flown back to the farm to pick up their presents – they hadn’t wanted to take them on the plane.
Mom was up and together we managed to keep Christopher away from the presents and stuff.
Dad was the next one down, followed by Jimmy and Sam.
Mom and I started breakfast and, before long, Lois joined us. She looked pretty well rested, which was good.
After breakfast, Christopher opened his stocking to find a couple little cars and things.
We passed around presents until everyone had a small pile near them. Christopher's pile was, of course, the biggest. There was nothing in mine from Lois and, I admitted to myself that I was slightly disappointed in that.
But we had said we weren't doing anything so maybe she simply hadn't. Or maybe having my baby was enough of a gift?
It was a gift.
It was my connection – family. Christopher was my son – the more I remembered, the more I thought about it, the surer I was of that – but at the same time, I hadn't known that while she was pregnant, when he was born, while he was small.
From the time I started to understand biology and genetics and whatever, I'd doubted my ability to father children. It wasn't like I spent much time thinking about it, but when I did – or when Lana and I had talked about having a family – I didn't think it would happen for me, but I also knew it wouldn't matter to me if we ended up adopting kids. I *wanted* natural children, but I'd always known that biology didn't matter to my parents.
It was part of why I felt so horrible about the way I'd acted the first two months or so of Christopher's life. I knew he'd never remember that I hadn’t been there with him much the first few weeks, but I would.
My attention was brought back to the present by a one-year-old crawling on my lap. As was tradition, we started with the youngest and worked our way up, taking turns opening presents. Christopher's first present was a Radio Flyer Retro Rocket from Sam. It took us a while to realize that it wasn't someone's cell phone vibrating when he pushed a certain button and the whole thing vibrated. He tried to climb on it while it was still in the box and we all had to laugh at that.
He was easily distracted by the bows and other presents, but kept coming back to the rocket.
Lois loved her briefcase and digital voice recorder – tape recorders were so last century, I'd told Sam once I finally started looking.
If anyone noticed that I didn't have anything from Lois, they didn't say anything about it.
It was late by the time we finished watching movies and playing games with the rest of the family and we headed to our room.
"Thank you for the gifts," she said without preamble as soon as we were alone. "I love the bag, especially."
"Will your laptop actually fit in it?" I asked her. "I couldn't find any for the bigger laptops, but your dad said that was the best brand out there."
"I think it will," she said as she punched the code in the pad by the door. "And the voice recorder will come in handy. Or it will if I ever get to actually be a reporter."
"Why wouldn't you get to be a reporter?"
We headed into our room.
She looked at me as though she couldn't believe I'd even ask the question.
"What?" I didn't get it.
"I'm *pregnant*," she said as though it should be obvious.
"So? Lots of women have babies and a career."
She gave an exasperated sigh and flopped onto her back on the bed. "I'm pregnant. If it's anything like last time, it's going to be all I can do to get through school this semester, much less work and internship. The job... I'd hate to lose it, but it's not *essential* at this point, but I *have* to do the internship if I want to graduate. And if I don't graduate, then I won't get a good job."
"Sure you will. Perry loves you already." I sat in the chair near the closet.
"Loving me doesn't matter if I don't have the degree to go with it." She sighed. "I did get you something."
I looked up at that. "You didn't need to."
She shrugged without actually moving. "I wanted to. It took me a long time to come up with the right thing and I'm still not sure..." She sighed. "It's in the drawer in the end table on the left side of the couch. Would you mind to get it?"
I stood and headed towards the living area. When I opened the drawer, I saw an envelope with my name on it.
"Don't open it yet," she said as I pulled it out.
"Okay." I moved back to the chair.
She sighed again. "It's not *just* for you; it's for us. It's more than a bit extravagant, but it's for both Christmas and our anniversary, which I know we hadn't talked about. I had no idea what to get you and Vicki suggested something like this. If you don't want it, that's fine, just tell me and I should be able to get a refund. I won't be hurt or offended or anything like that."
Somehow I doubted that. I couldn’t quite tell why but there was an undertone that said she'd be hurt if I didn't accept the gift – whatever it was.
"Go ahead."
I opened the envelope, unsure what to expect.
I slowly pulled the papers out of the envelope. Airline tickets. And cruise tickets.
"Wow." I didn't know what to say. "I don't know what to say."
"We don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but Vicki mentioned that we'd never really gone on a vacation together and that now was the time to go if we wanted to – between semesters, before I get sick, before we have two kids. If you don't want to, that's fine. I can get most of the money refunded pretty easily – and maybe all of it. And I got a good deal anyway – Vinnie found it for me online, not through one of his regular channels, but on one of those online cruise discount sites. But I still couldn't afford a suite or whatever with a balcony so I didn’t know if you'd want to go or not because I know how you hate flying because you're cooped up and I didn't know if the same would apply to a cruise ship or not."
I didn't think she took a breath the whole time she was talking, but she seemed like she was waiting for me to say something.
"I'd love to go."
*****
TBC
