Last time:
Clark
He moved back and looked at the completed snowman. "'anpa. 'anpa s'o'ma'."
"Grandpa snowman?"
"Uh huh."
His nose was starting to get a little red and he was a bit sniffly.
"Time to go inside, bud."
I scooped him under my arm and zoomed around the yard for a few minutes before heading back inside. He was still laughing as we took off his snow suit.
He sat on the counter, babbling nearly non-stop as I made a cup of hot chocolate to share with him. I only understood about a third of what he was saying, but that didn't stop him.
We worked together to blow on the steaming liquid. He ate the mini-marshmallows straight out of the bag and we took turns taking sips.
Out of nowhere, he stopped and looked at me intently with his big brown eyes. "Wuv 'ou, Daddy."
I wasn't sure why, but for some reason it caught me off-guard and my eyes welled up.
"I love you, too, little man. I love you, too."
*~*104*~*
April 2005
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I looked out the window.
Sort of.
I could only see a bit of sunset orange out any of the windows at the moment. I sighed deeply.
I was so sick of being sick.
Clark had definitely been much more attentive this time around. He'd rubbed my back and brought me soup and anything else I needed and most of what I wanted – pretty much everything I'd gotten up the nerve to ask for. I hadn't asked for a flight and, to be honest, wasn't sure I was up for one.
Working from home was nice, too. I was able to work from bed when I needed to or the couch when I was feeling a bit better. The columns and blogs were popular – or as popular as something like could be.
Since Christopher was in the house somewhere with Jessica we hadn't bothered locking the main door to our wing. I heard a noise out there and froze – even though I wasn't moving much as it was.
"Mama?"
I breathed a sigh of relief and rolled over. "In here, buddy."
I could only see the top of his head as he came into the room. I could hear his breathing and he seemed a bit out of breath.
I heard him set something on the ground and then he struggled to climb onto the nightstand and then the bed. I held out a hand to help him but he wouldn't let me. When he was about half-way up, he stopped and climbed back down. He set something on the nightstand, but the pillow was in my way and I couldn't see what it was.
But it crinkled.
And thunked.
A minute later, he'd struggled back up onto the bed.
He plopped back onto Clark's pillow with a sigh.
He rolled to look at me. "Mama, si'?"
I nodded. "Mama's sick, bud."
"Baby?"
I nodded again. "Yeah, the baby's making Mama sick." We hadn't really sat him down and told him that he was going to be a big brother, but when I'd started getting sick, he'd noticed and we'd told him that I had a baby in my tummy.
He frowned and crawled over next to me, pulling my shirt up and looking at my baby bump. "Be 'ice, Baby."
I smiled at him. "It's okay. It's not Baby's fault."
He kissed my stomach. "Wuv 'ou, Baby."
My heart melted even as I cringed. He put both hands on my stomach and pushed himself up but I tried to ignore the pain. I tried to hide it, but he didn't notice at all. He bounded back to the other side of the bed.
"Careful, Christopher," I warned.
He jumped up and landed on his rear before crawling the last little bit. I heard the crinkling and thunking again as he pulled whatever it was towards him and turned around.
"'ere go, Mama."
He handed me a very mangled package of saltines and a Sprite that I didn't think I'd be opening any time soon.
"Oh, thank you!" I pulled him to my side and kissing his hair. "*You* are my favorite little man. Thank you so much." I set them both to the side. "I'll eat them later, okay."
He nodded before crawling under the covers and snuggling in next to me. He turned and crawled back to the other side of the bed, grabbing the remote that was sitting on Clark's nightstand before cuddling back in by me.
He handed me the remote. "Ja' Ja'."
I laughed. "Okay. We can watch Jack Jack."
'The Incredibles' was already in the DVD player and, as always, we started with the Jack Jack short. He giggled and cheered as Jack Jack went through his assorted... powers. When it was over, I started the movie.
For some reason, he loved this movie.
It was the only movie he'd sit through and watch from beginning to end – and it wasn't a short movie. I thought he liked the bright colors.
Or maybe he had some clue that his dad could have been a super.
That it was possible that he could someday be a super or something.
Clark had mentioned in passing that the idea of a secret superhero identity appealed to him, but he said it would be a while before he'd seriously think about it.
It would probably depend on whether Lana would let him once he was back with her.
Would I... 'let him'? If he wanted to become a superhero while we were married and he asked my... permission, would I be okay with that?
I'd seen him watching the coverage of the aftermath of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean after Christmas. I could see it tearing him apart. He wanted to go help, and I thought about encouraging him to, but I just couldn't.
If it hadn't been for Navance, I probably would have, but if someone realized what was going on – if he got caught on tape or something...
In the end, I think he agreed that it wouldn't be a good idea for him to go either. Not now.
Maybe someday.
Violet managed to rescue her family as Clark walked in.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
"Daddy!"
Lois reached for the remote and paused the movie as Christopher jumped at me, trusting me to catch him.
"What're you watching?" I asked, even though I knew.
"Mama, me, baby wa' Ja' Ja'."
"Jack Jack?" My brow furrowed. "Do you like Jack Jack?"
He frowned. "Daddy," he said, with a warning tone. He wiggled down and grabbed my hand as he headed back to Lois' side.
I laughed and crawled onto the bed with them to watch the end of the movie. He kept tugging on my arm until I was right next to Lois and he then wiggled between us.
He frowned and pushed on me. "'ove."
I obliged and he determinedly tugged the covers down. I tried to help him but he told me not to. He was going to do it himself. When he was satisfied, he patted the bed next to Lois. "'ome on, Daddy."
I laughed again and toed off my shoes.
He sat cross-legged and glared at me. "'jamas, Daddy."
Right. Pajamas. "Okay, bud. I'll go put some pajamas on." It made sense. Lois was in pajamas – a different pair than this morning, I noticed. That meant she'd felt well enough to get up and take a shower and stuff and some point.
I headed into the closet and took my pants off, pulling a pair of pajama pants on in their place before heading back into the bedroom.
Christopher giggled as I crawled towards him on the bed, growling slightly. When I got close enough, I grabbed him and gently tossed him onto the bed.
"Daddy!" He was rolling as I tickled him.
"He's never going to go to sleep tonight if you get him all riled up," Lois said, with just a hint of a reprimand in her voice.
"I'll stay up with him if I need to," I told her as he started pulling on my shirt. I pulled it over my head and tossed it onto the chair by the closet.
He pulled me back on to the bed near Lois. I sat as close to her as I could without making her uncomfortable while still being close enough to make Christopher happy.
He snuggled back between us and pointed the to the TV. "P'ay, Mama."
"Yes, sir," she said with a mock salute with the remote. She hit play and the blue screen was replaced by the bright colors of the movie.
I knew I had to tell her what had happened.
I'd done a rescue. I managed to make it look legit, but...
The lake in the middle of the NTNF had a stranded boat in it. The weird thing was... it was like a cross between Gilligan's Island and Tommy Boy.
It was a sailboat, with no wind, stuck on a little island in the middle of the lake. Apparently, they were doing a sailboat tour of the lake and the wind died down and the back-up motor wasn't working for some reason.
I'd borrowed a rowboat from an unoccupied cabin and headed out there.
I sighed. I was going to have to tell her – Ralph had been one of the people I'd rescued.
"Something happened today," I said quietly. "Just now."
"What's that?" she asked, not really looking at me.
"Uh, there was a boat stuck on that little island on the lake."
Her head turned sharply my direction. "And?"
I told her what had happened – how I'd gotten out there.
"And they didn't question why you were rowing out in the middle of the lake?" she asked with a raised brow.
"*Ralph* was the most intelligent one of the bunch," I answered. "*Ralph*."
She winced. "That couldn't have been fun. He makes Gilligan look like a combination of the Albert Einstein, Fred Astair and Bob Vila."
I swallowed a laugh when Christopher glared at me. "Yeah."
"How'd they get out of there?"
"Their motor wasn't working and I told them the wind had picked up so I pushed them off and blew them to shore."
"And they didn't notice anything?"
I shook my head. "Ralph? Please. He couldn't figure out how to fasten Velcro without step by step instructions."
She groaned. "True."
"Shhhhhh," Christopher interrupted.
We shared an amused look and I snuggled back down under the covers with Christopher.
It put me close to Lois; much closer than I usually was.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
Clark was warm.
He was always warm, but that wasn't the point.
Christopher had forced us into much closer proximity than we usually were. What I really wanted from him was for him to hold me while we lay here – with Christopher or any other time.
I wanted to feel loved.
I stifled I sigh.
I knew it was at least partly my own fault. I was sure I wasn't sending off 'please love me, stay with me, have a family with me' vibes.
And Clark wasn't in love with me so it wasn't really fair of me to want to feel loved by him.
I felt *cared for*.
I knew Clark cared about me – and not *just* because I was having his baby.
We hadn't seen much of each other in the last few weeks. I'd worked from home most days – making it to school most of the time but that was about it. The first few weeks after I started getting sick weren't too bad – not until about six or seven at night – so I was able to go to school and the Planet most of the time. But once I hit about fifteen weeks pregnant...
It had been downhill from there.
Now I was just over nineteen weeks and the last couple days hadn't been quite as bad.
And I'd managed to stay out of the emergency room.
I realized that Christopher was sound asleep by the time the mole people showed up.
"See?" Clark said quietly. "Right out."
I smiled at him, reaching over to brush Christopher's hair off his face. "You know, you never have told me how you cut your hair and shave. We'll have to deal with that with them, won't we?"
He shrugged. "Christopher's been sick. I mean, I know we're going off the assumption that he's my biological son, but there's no way if any of this is hereditary or not. I never had ear infections or colds or anything like that."
"No," I said slowly. "But Christopher and this baby are only half Kryptonian. Despite the cold and ear infection, he's been very healthy. Dr. Shanks thinks he looks great for his age and he's developing well. No one's noticed anything odd about him at all." I sighed. "I should have said this a long time ago, but I'm sorry about the half-alien thing. I didn't mean anything by it other than it's technically accurate." I gently stroked Christopher's hair. "I really didn't mean anything bad by it or as an insult or anything like that. Anymore than I might say someone was half-Italian or something."
"I know. It stung for a minute, but I didn't really think you meant anything by it," he said quietly.
"I didn't. I don't think of you like that; I never have. You're Clark – my roommate, friend, guy who takes me flying sometimes; not a little green man or anything like that."
"Thanks. I think."
We sat there for a few minutes, without saying anything.
"You're feeling a bit better?" he finally asked.
I nodded. "I'm sick of being sick and today wasn't fun but it was better than last week was."
"That's good. I'm glad. Something else we haven't talked about..."
"What's that?"
"Are we finding out if we're having a boy or girl?"
I shrugged. "As much as I like knowing everything, I kind of liked not knowing, too. Do you want to know?"
"Kind of, but it's up to you. You're the one who has to be pregnant and go through labor and delivery."
"Think about it a bit more?" I asked him. "The ultrasound isn't until next week."
He nodded before moving to lift Christopher into his arms. He floated up off the bed and over me until he could stand up. "I'll be right back."
I snuggled back down under the covers, hearing the crinkling sound of the package of Saltines.
"They're a little mashed," Clark said as he came back in, amusement in his voice.
"Christopher brought them for me," I told him as I dug the Sprite out from under the covers, too. "I'd open that one over the sink." I set them both on the nightstand. "He managed to get them all the way up here."
"How has he never managed to get lost in this place?" he asked as I hit the remote to turn the DVD off. He flipped through the TIVO recordings and selected the most recent NCIS. "You've probably already watched it – do you mind?"
"No, go ahead. I think I'm going to write another blog entry since I didn't get one done today."
He started the episode before hitting pause. "Are you really okay?"
I shrugged as I opened my laptop. "I'm a bit better today and should keep getting better if Christopher was any indication."
"That's not what I meant."
I looked up. "What did you mean then?"
"I mean, overall. The depression, everything."
The whole I'm in love with him thing. That’s what he wasn't saying.
I'd told him I'd be okay and I would – I thought. Eventually. For the last few weeks, I hadn't really been able to think about it – other than be grateful that things were better than last time.
"I'm fine," I told him. It wasn't entirely accurate but it wasn't inaccurate either.
"Is there anything you need? Anything I can do before I start this?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm okay. Make sure the Saltines and Sprite are gone before Christopher gets up in the morning."
He laughed, zipping around to get rid of them for me.
"Thanks," I told him.
"No problem. That's what I'm here for. Superfast clean up."
I smiled. "That's good, because..." I stopped. *We* were never going to inherit this house so I could delegate all cleaning to him. *He'd* be gone long before then.
"What?"
I forced another smile. "Nothing. Just that's why I married you, you know. Insane dictators and superfast cleaning."
He gave me an odd look, like he didn't believe me but turned NCIS back on.
I stifled a sigh and went back to my blog, wondering what would happen if I really wrote about my life.
Yeah, like anyone would want to read that – The Idiot's Guide to Living in a Quasi-Platonic Marriage When You're In Love With Your Husband and He's Not In Love With You While Protecting Your Son From an Insane Dictator.
Yeah, that'd be a best seller.
I wondered who would play me in the movie.
Maybe that chick from The New Adventures of Batman show in the mid-90s. She was cute.
Nah.
I put it out of my mind and got to work.
*****
TBC
