Last time:
Lois
Kristi interrupted my thoughts. "Okay. Get dressed and Clark here is going to carry you downstairs."
I started to protest, but one look from both of them told me it was better to listen to her.
"Yes, ma'am," I said meekly. They talked in the hallway for a minute – about what was going to practically be a jail sentence, I was sure – while I got dressed.
"Okay," I hollered, irritated. "Clark can come scoop me up and carry me on downstairs now."
A second later I was in his arms as he carried me towards the elevator.
"Thank you," he said quietly as we separated from Kristi.
"For what? I'm going to be an irritable..." My voice trailed off.
"Probably," he conceded. "But thank you for not fighting it and for letting me call her earlier."
"I want this baby to be healthy as much as you do," I told him, trying not to snuggle down in his arms and rest my head on his shoulder.
But I couldn’t stop myself.
"I know," he said as my head made contact. "But you could have protested and..."
"I probably still will," I informed him. "But that doesn't mean I won't listen."
He set me down as we neared the living room. Most of the guests had arrived – Billy and Serena, Jimmy, the Sceves, Vicki and family, Kristi and family, Clark's family.
"Where's my birthday boy?" I said loudly. "Let's get this party started."
*~*109*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
She sat carefully on the couch as Christopher bounded up to her, talking a mile a minute about how everyone was there for his party.
Kristi had assured me that everything was going to be fine; that Lois just needed to take it easy. She needed to make it through another four or five weeks and then things should be fine. Even if she did deliver the baby today, everything would probably be fine, but there would probably be a NICU stay.
That thought made me nervous. We'd never had any reason to be nervous about Christopher seeing a doctor or anything unusual at his birth because we hadn't realized he was my son at the time.
But with this baby...
That worried me. We knew this baby was mine and there was always the chance that something would be different or something.
It was a bit of a relief that no one had noticed anything about Christopher.
"What's going on?" Mom asked, sliding her arm around my waist.
I put my arm around her shoulder. "Christopher's second birthday."
"I mean with Lois."
I sighed. "She has to take it easy for a few weeks. Modified bed rest, Kristi called it."
Mom's brow furrowed. "Are she and the baby okay?"
"For now. She's been having pretty mild contractions today and Kristi wants her to rest as much as possible."
"Would it help if I stayed for a few weeks?" she asked.
"I don't know. Talk to Lois? Can you afford to be away from the farm that long?"
"If I'm needed here, we'll figure it out."
"Thanks, Mom." I squeezed her slightly.
We went and joined the rest of the group as Christopher opened his presents.
The rest of the day was spent just hanging out with friends and family. Lois sat or reclined most of the day and, every once in a while, I could see the strain on her face.
Everyone else had gone to bed by the time Lois was ready to head up. I scooped her into my arms and headed towards the stairs nearest our room.
"How're you feeling?" I asked as we walked.
She shrugged. "It's going to be a long month."
"I'm sorry," I told her honestly. "I know you're going to hate this."
She sighed. "I have to do what I have to do, right? It wouldn't be safe for the baby to be born this early, for lots of reasons, not the least of which would be an extended NICU stay – or the lack of an extended NICU stay which would be almost as bad."
"Right." I set her on the bed. "I still wish you didn't have to go through this."
"I know. At least last time I was so sick I didn't really care that I didn't do much most of the time. This time, I'm just going to be frustrated and probably not very nice most of the time."
"Mom offered to stay for a while if you want her to," I told her.
"I don't know what she could do."
I shrugged. "Hang out. Play games. Teach you to knit."
She glared at me. "Don't go thinking I'm going to get all domestic."
I laughed. "I wouldn't think that for a minute. I was just thinking it was something you could do while you were resting, that's all. Or take up scrapbooking or..."
"Coming up with ways to assassinate evil dictators without leaving a mark?"
"Or that."
She took as deep a breath as she could and let it out slowly. "Do you think he'll really let this go in three years?"
I stretched out on the bed next to her, reaching out to put one hand on her stomach as the baby twisted and rolled. It was the coolest thing. "I don't know. It would be nice to think that he would but..."
"Maybe they'll have a civil war or something." She rolled slightly so that her forehead rested against my shoulder.
"Maybe."
"What would you do if he changes the law again?" she asked me quietly. "What if he changes it to ten years or something? What would you do?"
"Stay," I told her. "Unless you told me to leave – and really meant it – I'd stay. I wouldn't let anything happen to the two of you."
I could tell she wanted to say something else, but she didn't.
"What?" I finally asked.
"Nothing," she sighed. "Just wondering why nothing is ever easy in my life."
"Most things worth having aren't easy," I said quietly.
"I wish it was a little easier."
"I know." I pressed my lips to her forehead for a long second. "I know."
~*~*~
July 2005
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
"I'm going to go stark raving mad," I told Martha.
It had been two weeks and I was going crazy. Beyond crazy.
She'd even taught me how to crochet – not knit – and I'd made a hat and scarf for the next winter. It only took three days of doing nothing else to finally start getting it right.
I spent most of the days on the couch or in the recliner Daddy had put in our room. I'd rewatched every DVD I owned – or it felt like it anyway. I'd even watched the episodes of 90210 with Brenda's French boyfriend a couple of times until I realized that part of the reason I liked them so much was that he reminded me of Clark.
Martha had pointed out their similarities.
I'd read a few books – including all the Lord of the Rings books and was thinking about starting on Harry Potter but I couldn't make myself.
"Two more weeks," I said, tossing the ball of yarn onto the couch and setting the scarf I was working on for Daddy on the table.
"Only two? I thought we were shooting for three or four more," Martha said.
"I know. But two weeks and we're much better off than we are now. Two weeks and it would only be slightly unusual for little to no NICU time."
She nodded. "Do you think that could happen?"
I shrugged. "Christopher was four weeks early and a tad on the small side, but not even that, really. Maybe half-Kryptonian pregnancies are shorter." I had to remind myself that she didn't know we'd only realized that Christopher was probably Clark's son relatively recently.
"That's possible," she conceded. "But I still think we ought to try to keep that bun in the oven as long as possible."
"Yeah."
"So how about a game?" She stood up and headed to the bookcase.
"Sure," I said, resigned for the moment to my fate.
I'd enjoyed spending time with Martha all though I was sure she was going to be going slightly stir crazy herself before long. I thought part of it was psychosomatic – I *knew* I couldn't get up and go anywhere; she could.
Most days, I spent a couple hours writing a blog post or working on an article or doing online research for Billy and Serena. While I did that, Martha either spent time with Christopher or out with the horses or any number of other things.
We'd talked about a lot of things and I was sure we'd talk about a lot more before the baby decided to show up. She'd told me all about Chris and their long courtship and Jonathan and their whirlwind one. She told me what it had been like raising Clark with his powers and we talked about what it might be like for me – and Clark – raising superkids of our own.
There were times I wanted to pour out everything to her – to tell her the whole story – but I couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Regardless, it was nice to have her there.
Hours later, I pulled myself out of the chair and swayed slightly.
"Hey." Clark was at my side in a second. "You okay?"
I nodded. "Head rush." I leaned against him as he wrapped an arm around me and waited for it to pass. "Thanks," I said straightening a bit as it passed.
"No problem. What'd you and my mom do today?"
I glared at him as I headed towards the bathroom. "Same as the last two weeks. TV, crochet, games, anything that doesn't require movement from me."
"Exciting."
"Don't rub it in. How was your day?" I called as I went into the bathroom, in desperate need of brushing my teeth.
"Good. I covered a flower show."
I had my toothbrush in my mouth but had to head back out to our room and raise an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah, it was a blast."
"I'd rather do that," I told him around the brush.
"I know. Tomorrow, I get to cover a dog show and Perry said it would be okay if I took Christopher with me."
I wiped my mouth off. "He'll love that." I took my Tylenol PM to help me sleep – between twitchy, restless legs and not doing anything all day long, I'd actually had a hard time with falling asleep.
"I know."
I carefully climbed into bed, sighing as I rolled onto my side facing him. It was actually a bit of a relief not to be on my tailbone.
"How's Nate?" he asked, climbing in on his side.
"*Ellie* is fine as far as I can tell. She's cooperating."
"Good." He moved closer and situated himself the same as he had every other night in recent weeks. "Hi, Nate or Ellie," he said softly. "You be nice to your mom, you hear me? She's trying hard to make sure you don't show up too early. She loves you, you know. And so do I and so does your big brother. Now be good and let her sleep, okay?" He talked quietly for a few more minutes before moving back to his pillow. "There."
"You really think she's listening to you?" I asked, skeptically.
"You slept better last night, didn't you?"
I nodded grudgingly. The night before was the first time in a while that he'd told the baby to behave and let me sleep.
It seemed to have worked.
Of course, it was also the first night I'd taken the Tylenol PM but I didn't want to ruin his delusion.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
"Yeah, Perry?" I stuck my head in his office. I'd had an email when I got in telling me that he wanted to see me.
"Have a seat," he said, waving me in.
Having no idea what it was about, I shut the door behind me. I sat in one of the big chairs while he finished writing this thought in the margin of whatever article he was proofing. He put his blue pencil down and looked at me.
"How's Lois doing?" he asked.
"She's going nuts," I told him. "It's been a bit better since Sam moved a bed and recliner into the bedroom on the main floor that no one uses. She can get up and walk around a bit more – make it to the kitchen and the living room and the deck so she can be in the sun a bit more sometimes. The first two weeks were bad, but the last two would have been worse if it wasn’t for that."
"How much longer do they think?"
"Kristi came by last night and checked on her. She said that she'd probably go ahead and let her deliver if she went into labor now. That means Lois is still supposed to take it easy, but not quite as strict."
"It's still a bit early though isn't it?" he said with a frown.
I nodded. "She'll be thirty-five weeks in a couple days. She had an ultrasound and an amniocentesis last week and the baby looked great, even for six weeks early. Especially for six weeks early. Even his or her lungs look good." It had made us wonder if gestation for Kryptonians wasn't a bit shorter than humans or something.
"And she still decided she didn't want to know the gender? Isn't that something they can test for with an amnio?"
I nodded. "Yeah, but she said we made it this far. Now it's only a couple more weeks and it'll give her something to look forward to finding out at the end of labor. Anyway, things look good, so it could really be just about any day now. Though, with our luck, she'll probably go over now."
Perry looked over my shoulder out the window. "Is that why she's here?"
"What?" I exclaimed, shocked and turning in my seat to see Lois and my mom walking through the newsroom. I stood up and headed out to where they had stopped to talk to Serena. "What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and low.
"I *had* to get out of the house, Clark. And Kristi said short trips would be okay. Your mom mentioned a couple weeks ago that she'd like to see the Planet. She drove and I reclined as much as I could. I'm almost thirty-five weeks," she said quietly. "Everything should be fine."
I sighed. "I know you've been going crazy. Are you feeling okay?"
She nodded. "I'm *fine*."
"Okay."
I showed Mom around the newsroom and introduced her to a variety of people. Lois stayed seated at her desk, chatting with Billy, Serena and Jimmy – and anyone else who happened by the desk.
Twenty minutes later, we made it to Perry's office. They started chatting about the last time Perry saw Elvis – turned out Mom was at the same concert.
I looked and saw Lois talking to Jimmy. Jimmy was animated trying to describe something with his hands. He finally pulled her chair to my desk and looked something up online.
I didn't think she noticed when she started rubbing her stomach and the strain started to show on her face.
But then she winced.
I ran off, leaving Mom and Perry staring after me.
"Hey," I said, squatting next to her chair. "Are you okay?"
Her eyes were wide as she looked back at me. "I think my water just broke."
*****
TBC
