/waves/ I know I said in the FDK thread I was going to go to an every day posting schedule, but then I realized that I do have a bit more of early in betweenie stuff to write. We'll have to see how today goes and if I get it out to betas [have I mentioned that my betas ROCK?!]
Speaking of... thanks to Nancy, Beth and Alisha!
Last time:
Clark
She stared at her plate for a minute. "Are you really sure?"
"That I want to date you?" I asked puzzled.
She shook her head. "That this is what you want. That *I'm* what you want. Not just the idyllic family life we've portrayed for the last few years, but the idyllic family life with *me*?"
"No," I said slowly. "I don't want the idyllic family life we've portrayed. I want *real* life. With fights and sick kids and bills to pay." I smiled at her. "Okay, I could do without the bills part, but I don’t want a fifties sitcom. I want you and our boys and real life without a dictator threatening us."
She leaned against me. "That's what I want, too. I guess my brain is just having a hard time letting my heart believe it's really real – that it's really what you want."
"It is," I told her softly. "So what do you say? Will you go out with me tonight?"
Her brow furrowed. "I don't know about tonight."
"What? Why not?"
"I told you. I'm not planning on leaving this bed all day."
I chuckled. "Okay, how about tomorrow night then?"
She munched on some bacon. "You're on."
I kissed her again. "Good. Because you're not ever getting rid of me."
"Good," she told me as she kissed me back.
*~*2*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I was glad Clark had made breakfast. I'd woken up hungry.
And alone.
I hadn't been able to stop the feeling that Clark had left again and I couldn't begin to describe the relief that flooded over me when he came back in the room with breakfast. I guessed it was just part of trying to find our new normal. To a certain extent, the only thing that would really, truly convince me was time.
"So when do I get to meet your brother," I asked around a mouthful of pancake.
"You've already met him. He saved your life," he reminded me.
"You know what I mean."
"When do you want to?" he asked back, stealing another piece of bacon.
I shrugged. "Whenever's good for him, I guess."
"You have no idea how happy he was to hear that we have one – and probably two – kids together."
I was sure I looked puzzled. "Why?"
"He's engaged. Jor-El thought we'd be able to have children with human women, but there was no way to know for sure. His fiancée wants kids, badly, but is willing to accept that it may not happen for them. He was certain that she'd be ecstatic."
"What's her name?"
"Ashley."
"Right." I took the last bite of pancake. "So how's his whole superhero thing going?"
Clark shrugged. "Fine, I guess. He wants to set up a foundation where proceeds from merchandise and stuff goes and then it can be dispensed from there to worthwhile charities."
It had only been a week and merchandise had been popping up for several days already.
I took a deep breath and asked my next question. "Have you thought any more about it?"
"Being a superhero?" he asked quietly.
I nodded.
"I wouldn't do it without your support, but I'd like to, eventually. Once we're sure Nate's okay and all that. I bet Mom could come up with a good costume for me."
"I'm sure she could."
I rested my head on his shoulder. "I know I said I didn't want to get out of bed all day, but what if we went to meet him today? You said he works from home sometimes, right? Or is he still on his leave of absence? So we could drop in?"
Clark nodded against my head. "Yeah. I can give him a call, just in case, but he said to stop by whenever I wanted."
"Do you mind?"
He turned just enough to kiss my head. "Can we do more of what we did last night later?"
I smiled. "If you're nice to me today."
"Then I'll be very nice."
"Good."
An hour later, I'd showered – and hadn't let Clark help me wash my hair again or we'd never leave the cabin – and was wearing the best outfit I'd brought with me. My stomach was in knots.
"Why are you so nervous?" Clark asked as he wrapped his arms around me.
I kissed him softly. "I've never met a real live alien before," I said with a twinkle in my eyes.
"Sure you have."
"But I didn't *know* you were an alien then."
"He's just a guy, Lois. He talks a little more formally than we do sometimes because of how he was raised, but that's about it."
"I know."
"Ready?" he asked.
I turned in his arms. "Ready."
A minute later, we were soaring high above the city of Metropolis. It was amazing to fly like this. We were high enough that no one on the ground would be able to see us, but if they did see anything, they'd assume it was Van-El. A few minutes later, we set down on the balcony of the apartment on Clinton Street.
"Did you call him?" I whispered.
Clark nodded. "He knows we're here."
"How..." Right. Of course. They both had the hearing thing. He would have heard us land and said something to Clark who could have heard it from the moon.
He held me close to him for a minute. "He's going to love you. You'll see."
He took my hand and we headed up to the back door. He opened it. I looked at him a bit oddly – surely he wasn't *that* comfortable with his brother already.
"He said to come on in," Clark explained.
"Right."
We headed into the bedroom. The bed was situated opposite the large window that overlooked the balcony with archways on either side. We went through one of the arches into a kitchen that looked well-used – maybe the cooking thing was genetic. On our right was a living room full of furniture that looked like it was as much for function as fashion.
In one of the chairs was a man leaning forward, his elbows on his knees. He was frowning at the laptop sitting on the coffee table in front of him.
"Have a seat," he said waving an arm towards the couch. "Just a second."
His fingers flew over the keyboard and he sat back and sighed. "Okay, that's the best it's going to get for now." He stood up and the smile that crossed his face reminded me so much of Clark. He held out a hand to me. "It's very nice to meet you, officially anyway. I'm Ka... Clark's brother. Bernie."
"It's nice to meet you, officially," I replied shaking his hand. "I can't begin to thank you for saving me on the ship the other day."
He smiled. "I'm glad that I was there. I don't think my brother would have forgiven me if I'd let something happen to you." He motioned to the couch again. "Please have a seat. Can I get you anything?"
"No, thanks," Clark said sitting on the couch.
I sat next to him, but not too close. A second later, Clark's arm was around me tugging me closer. I scooted next to him and his free hand reached for one of mine.
It was so different from the way our relationship had been for so long. Even though we'd played the role of the happy couple for so long, it was different being close like this because we wanted to – because *Clark* wanted to.
"May I call you Lois?" he asked me.
I nodded. "Please." I was nervous. My stomach was churning. I wasn't sure why. Yes, he was Clark's brother, but it wasn't like Clark had grown up with him or anything like that. It wasn't like meeting his parents or even Granny.
But I was still nervous.
Maybe it was because – even though I'd seen Clark do special stuff regularly – I knew this man was a gen-u-ine superhero.
Who'd saved my life at least once already.
Just then both of their heads snapped up. I'd seen Clark do that from time to time, but it wasn't like our neighborhood was a hotbed of criminal activity. The area where Bernie lived was a much seedier part of town.
"Go," Clark said.
Bernie stood up and spun. A second later, the now-famous black suit with bright blue emblem on it emerged. He hurried to the balcony and the familiar whoosh indicated his take-off.
I looked around. "Now what?"
"We'll wait for a few minutes, but if it's something that's going to take a while, we head out."
I rested my head on his shoulder. "Is this what it's like living with a superhero?"
Clark shrugged. "I don't know. There'd be two of us, for starters. And he works from home a lot of the time so if he's needed, he can just go. I might not be able to do that, but we could rotate nights or something, give each other 'off' times – unless something really major comes up, kind of thing."
I nodded. "Maybe it wouldn't be too bad."
Clark's head suddenly jerked up.
"What?" I asked him.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
<We haven't done this yet, have we?>
What? It sounded like Van, but how could I have heard him *in* my head?
<Kryptonians are telepathic,> he said in my head.
Right. I knew that.
<How do I do this?> I asked him.
<Just like that,> he said back. <It's going to take a while. I'll talk to you later? I wish I'd been able to talk to Lois longer. We'd like to do dinner with you two sometime soon and I'd like to meet your parents if it's okay with them.>
<Um, sure. Call me.> I turned to Lois.
"Did you know that Kryptonians are telepathic?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "You've never told me a whole lot about Krypton," she reminded me.
I winced slightly. "Would you like to go to the farm? I *want* to show you the globe and the holograms and everything else. I should have a long time ago."
She nodded. "I'd like that – if you want to show me."
I put a hand to her face and kissed her softly. "I do. I want you to know everything."
I sent a mental message to my brother and a minute later, we headed out the balcony door to take off for Smallville.
The trip never took long, but this time it took a bit longer than usual.
Mainly because I was distracted by the feel of Lois in my arms.
However, it wasn’t very long before we landed near the farmhouse.
"Mom?" I called, knowing Dad wasn't home – his truck was gone. I'd called them the day before while I was getting everything set up and told them my plan.
"Clark!" Mom hurried out of the kitchen. "How'd it go with...?" She spied Lois and her eyes filled with tears. "Lois." She held her arms out and Lois immediately went to her. They held each other for a long time. "I'm so glad," Mom whispered.
"Me, too," Lois whispered back.
Mom finally let Lois go and we headed to the living room. I sped ahead of them and flopped down in my favorite chair. I grabbed Lois' arm as she walked by and pulled her onto my lap.
"Clark!" she squealed.
I grinned and whispered in her ear. "I know we're not technically on our honeymoon, but can I help it if it feels like it?"
I couldn’t see her face, but I was sure she was rolling her eyes. Regardless, she snuggled down in my arms.
Mom had a big grin on her face.
I should have known.
"I'm so happy for you two," she told us. "The threat is gone and you're going to move on together."
Lois giggled a bit. "We're even getting married."
Mom looked puzzled. "What?" I had told them I had a plan, but I hadn't given them the details.
"Clark proposed to me last night." She held out her hand to show off the engagement ring. "He asked me to marry him all over again. To do it all right."
"Except for the whole 'wait until the wedding night' thing," I said.
Lois groaned and turned eight shades of red. Mom just laughed. "I figured that much already. That's a beautiful ring. You did good, Clark."
"It was my mom's," Lois said quietly. "Clark said Daddy gave it to him the other night because he knew I loved it and would want it."
"That was sweet. So when's the big day?"
Lois turned enough to look at me. "I don't know. What do you think?"
I shrugged. "It's up to you. My big concern was whether or not you were going to make me wait – then I'd have something to say about when it was. But since you're not making me wait, whenever you want is fine with me."
Lois did a great imitation of a tomato. "I was thinking maybe on our anniversary except it's on a Wednesday next year, I think."
"We could make it a big New Year's Eve party," I suggested. "Not quite on our anniversary but close and that’s a Sunday. Everyone should have Monday off."
"What do you think, Martha?" Lois asked.
Mom shrugged. "Whatever you two want to do is fine. Are you going to have it in Metropolis?"
Lois looked at me. "I don't know. I guess, but will most of your family be able to make it then?" she asked me.
"Now, you two do what's best for you two. Don't worry about the family. We can do another big potluck next spring or summer or something."
"Or we could do two weddings," I said. "One here on Christmas Eve or something and one in Metropolis on New Year's Eve – or vice versa. Wherever we're planning on doing Christmas."
She frowned. "We'll have been married almost four years by then. I can see the two weddings or one wedding and a reception if we were just now getting married, but we're not – and I know everything, or almost everything, is public knowledge anyway, I'm not sure I want to actually announce why we're just now having a wedding and all that."
"True," I said slowly. "But does it matter? It's for us and those who love us enough to know and understand. Does everyone else matter?"
Lois sighed. "We'll talk about it later." She turned back to Mom. "I met Van-El *officially* a little while ago."
Mom's face brightened. "You did? What's he like?"
Lois laughed. "He looks just like Clark and he left about three minutes after we got there."
"Why?" Mom asked, puzzled.
"Rescue," I told her. "Hostage situation at a bank. He said he'd call me later. He and Ashley want to meet you guys."
"Did you know Kryptonians are telepathic?" Lois asked with a roll of her eyes.
"Really?" Mom's eyebrow raised. "Did you know this, Clark?"
I shrugged. "Jor-El mentioned it, but when have I had another Kryptonian to be telepathic with? I guess with the whole fires with my eyes thing, telepathy with people from a dead planet just seemed less important."
"Good point," Mom said. "It was more important to know why you almost burned the house down."
"That's something I wanted to talk to you and Dad about. Lois and I have already talked about it a little bit, but what about the whole superhero thing? I help when and where I can but it seems like so little... Especially compared to what Van-El is doing or what we could do together at a major disaster or whatever."
Mom sighed. "We figured this conversation was coming. It's up to the two of you. Lois and the boys will be a lot more affected than we will. How many nights will you not be home because of some emergency? How many birthday parties might you miss? Things like that."
"I've thought about that," I said honestly. "I think it would be a lot easier for both of us if there were two of us. I mean, we take a family vacation to DisneyWorld or something and Van would know I'm not available. Ashley has a baby and he wants to take a week off, I cover more. School play? Same thing. Like an on-call doctor type thing or something. Trade nights or weeks or something like that."
Mom nodded slowly. "That might work better than if there was just one of you, that's for sure. When you decide let me know and I'll help with a costume or whatever you need."
"Let's do it," Lois said suddenly.
"What?" Mom and I said simultaneously.
"I mean it," she said. "I've seen you watch coverage of mudslides and earthquake aftermaths and I know how much you want to help. I've seen you watch Van-El in action and I know how much you'd like to be doing that, too. And the telepathy thing will sure help with that, I'd think."
"Are you sure?" I asked, shifting so we could look at each other.
"I am," she said quietly. "You've been given some amazing gifts and it's all well and good to use them to keep a fire going or make a quick trip to Smallville, but there's so much more you could do with them and I know you want to."
I kissed her gently. "I love you," I said quietly.
"You should," she replied with a grin.
I looked at Mom. "Okay. Let's do this."
*****
TBC
