Thanks - as ever - to Beth, Alisha and Nancy!
Last time:
Lois
"I think I'm going to let you do all the packing and all that while I lay here a little while longer," I told him as we realized we'd need to leave before too long.
"Lazy?" he asked with a grin, one finger drawing random patterns on my stomach.
I shook my head as I changed my mind. "Actually, I think I'm going to go take a shower while you do all that, flyboy. You're just *so* much more efficient than I am."
He sighed. "Fine."
I got up and got a change of clothes out of my suitcase – a pair of shorts that were a little on the short side and a top that showed a little more if I left an extra button or two undone.
I'd been in the shower for all of a minute or so when I felt Clark's strong arms around me, pulling me to him.
"You did say you wanted to find somewhere more creative," he practically growled.
I'd never had so much fun getting clean.
*~*7*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
We drove home, hand in hand.
That was unusual. We never held hands while driving.
We chatted about little stuff, both of us a little disappointed that our three days alone were over.
We hadn't spent them *completely* alone, but that was by choice and I now had a new superhero costume in my suitcase.
"Clark?"
Lois startled me slightly as she spoke.
"What?" I asked, bring her hand to my lips and kissing it lightly.
"Should we tell my Dad?"
My brow furrowed. "Tell your Dad what? The whole truth about us?"
Sam didn't know that we weren't entirely certain Christopher was my son though he had a pretty good idea about the true nature of our relationship over the last three and a half years.
She shrugged. "Maybe, but I meant about you."
"What about me?"
She took a deep breath. "The whole Kryptonian thing."
I sat in stunned silence for a minute. The thought of telling *anyone* scared me, but my father-in-law? Telling him that an alien was doing his daughter? Where had that phrase come from?
"I mean, he's said some nice things about Van-El and he's curious about the whole alien thing – who isn't? – but he's a doctor, his grandsons are affected. It's in his own best interests and the interests of his family to keep the secret, but if he's officially your doctor then there's the confidentiality thing, too. But besides that, if we stay at the house, surely he'll notice you being gone at weird times and stuff."
I sighed. "Can I think about it? You know it's not easy for me and what about Van? Wouldn't that mean we'd have to tell your dad about him so we should probably talk to them about it first, right?"
"Would you invite them over for dinner and let them meet Dad?"
<Van?>
<How was your little vacation?>
<Good. We're on our way home. Do you and Ashley have dinner plans tonight?>
There was a brief pause. <No. Just dinner at her place. Why?>
I sighed.
"What?" Lois asked.
"Talking to Van. Think your dad would be okay if they came over for dinner tonight?"
She shrugged. "Don't know why not."
<Would you like to come over for dinner tonight? Meet Lois' dad and the boys?>
<I'll ask Ashley, but we've mentioned wanting to. Any particular reason why?>
I hesitated. <Lois wants us to think about telling her dad about us.>
I could feel his shock.
<Hear me out. I know you don't know him and that's why we want you to come over. He's a doctor who might be able to help us in that sense – and his grandsons are half-Kryptonian. Spilling our secret wouldn't be an issue, but we live with him and even though the house is huge, he's going to notice if I'm gone regularly and all that. I trust him, but I wouldn't do that without talking to you two first. If he realizes I'm the new superhero – even if we don't tell him – he'll start wondering about you.>
There was a long pause. <I'll talk to Ashley about tonight and I'll think about it, okay? That's all I can promise right now. I'll talk to her about telling Lois' dad and we'll go from there, okay?>
<That's all I ask. Let me know about tonight.>
"What'd he say?" Lois asked me.
I told her what he said.
She nodded. "Well, we'll go from there." She picked up her phone and called her dad. He was available for dinner.
An hour later, we pulled up in front of the house.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Christopher ran to Lois and held his arms up.
Lois grabbed him and swung him around. "Hey, buddy. Did you miss us?"
He nodded. "I miss you and Na' miss you, too, bu' he's too yittle to use words 'till."
Lois laughed. "I know."
At that moment, Nate crawled rapidly out of the living room towards us, making babbling sounds the whole way.
Christopher squirmed down and ran over to give me a hug as Lois picked up Nate.
Jessica was close behind and we chatted with her for a few minutes before telling her that she was free to go. She was going to go out with her sister, she told us before heading for the now-unlocked down portion of the house.
Sam walked in at that moment and we all headed towards the living room on our end of the house. When Christopher was big enough to warrant a play area, he'd turned over two offices on that end of the house to us. One for a living room/play area and one for an office/study area for me and Lois while we were in college.
The boys immediately headed for the toys and we sat down to talk.
"What's on your minds?" he asked.
Lois glanced at me as my arm found its way around her, pulling her closer to me than had been our norm – and Sam noticed, too.
"Navance isn't a threat anymore," Lois started quietly. "We've been talking about what that means for us, for the boys."
Sam frowned. "Are you thinking about moving out?"
I shrugged. "Well, the reason we moved in was security and your very generous offer of daycare for Christopher while we were in college and while the threat continued. The threat's over. We talked about it. We're not poor college students anymore so we could afford something much nicer than we could have after our freshman year when we moved in here. We don't want to... assume that you want us to continue imposing on you."
Sam rolled his eyes. "My family is never an imposition." He looked at Lois. "I never told you this, Princess, but for a long time I hoped that you and your husband – whoever that might end up being – and your family would live here with me. I've got the room. I've got the money and living here by myself would be very lonely, even with Vicki and Ollie around. I love having the two of you and my grandsons here."
"Thank you, Daddy," Lois whispered. "We do appreciate that, but I want to make sure you know that it's not *necessary*."
"I know," he said. "But I want you here. The security needs will go way down, though I'll probably leave the keypads in place for emergencies but upstairs won't be locked down anymore and Scott and Steve won't be needed anymore. I'll have Allie keep the monitoring contract for the regular security system, but we'll back down on everything else once the media furor dies down in a couple days."
"Thanks, Sam."
"What about Jessica?" Lois asked suddenly, looking at me. "If we stay here, especially if Daddy's not going to charge us rent or whatever, we could afford to keep her on as a nanny for a while. It would probably be better for the boys and our hours could get kind of weird sometimes as we work our way up the investigative reporting ladder."
I nodded. "If she's willing, that's fine with me."
Sam smiled. "Well, that's settled then. So, who's coming over for dinner?"
Lois and I glanced at each other again. "Bernie and Ashley. They're new friends."
"How'd you meet?"
"I met Bernie through work," Lois told him – that was technically true. She was the first reporter with a Van-El exclusive of any kind but that was because she'd threatened him. And he'd believed her. "I introduced him to Clark and he introduced us to his fiancée, Ashley, and we've all hit it off."
I glanced at my watch as I heard Van's voice reverberate through my head. "They should be here any minute."
I also realized that I needed to start calling him Bernie in my head so I didn’t slip up.
The buzzing sound didn't shock me at all. Sam moved to the speaker and spoke with the guard still stationed at the front gate for the time being. He told him to let my brother and Ashley in.
<Nice place,> came the sarcastic voice in my head.
I picked up Nate and Lois led Christopher – taking my sons to meet my brother.
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I was struck again by how much Clark and Bernie looked alike. We'd headed out the side door and Dad gone through the house and come out the front door.
He'd stopped in his tracks when he saw Clark and Bernie standing there.
"Are you two related?" he asked as we walked inside after introductions all around. "I thought you were adopted, Clark."
"I was," Clark confirmed. "Lois met Bernie a couple weeks ago and actually thought he was me at first. We shared histories and it seems like a pretty good guess that I'm the little brother Bernie remembers."
"That's amazing," Dad said as we headed towards the kitchen. "Vicki said she put Garlic Chicken Parmesan in the oven for us. Clark, would you mind getting the bread in?"
Clark put Nate in his high chair and started working on the bread, chatting with Bernie as he did.
"This place is great, Lois," Ashley said quietly, looking around.
I smiled. "It's pathetic, but I took it for granted for a long time, but right after we got married, Clark and I lived in a dump on campus and I swore if I ever moved back in with Dad for any reason, I would appreciate it a lot more. And I do, believe me. The 'apartment'..." I used finger quotes for emphasis. "...we lived in was about the size of our bathroom here."
She winced. "My first apartment was about like that. Right now, I have a nice one bedroom over on Carter Avenue, but I guess I'm going to move in with Bernie after the wedding. My place is a bit bigger, but it's not good for the whole..." She made a wavy motion with her hand. "...thing."
"Right. I'll show you around later if you want."
"I'd like that."
We all laughed and talked throughout dinner. Nate still looked so small, but ate his jars of food rapidly, demanding faster delivery between jars. Ashley made a comment about how small he looked. We told him his history, which caused the two of them to share a look with each other and with us, especially when we told them about his surgery.
"And everything's okay now?" Bernie asked.
Dad looked at me to answer.
I sighed. "He's still so small and we're starting to get concerned again. His birthday is coming up in a few weeks and we're *hoping* for the thirteen pound range. He goes to the doctor for his one year check next month, so we'll see what they say."
Dad kept quiet. He was concerned about Nate's very small size and just could not understand my reluctance for any more medical intervention than absolutely necessary. The decision Clark and I had made for him to have surgery at four months old had been gut wrenching.
At the same time, I knew we'd reach a point where we couldn't wait any longer and that point was rapidly approaching. Clark knew it, too, and it was one of the things we'd discussed as we headed home – that it could be good for Daddy to understand the full ramifications of everything.
Ashley and Bernie shared another look with each other.
Topics changed and we finished dinner a few minutes later.
After dinner, we went outside for a bit and let Christopher run around the swing set for a while and Nate swung happily in his bucket swing.
"Bedtime," Clark told Christopher, grabbing him around the waist as he ran by.
"No," Christopher pouted. "Wanna play some more."
I picked Nate up from his swing and started towards the porch. "Christopher, come on."
"I got it," Clark said.
"Let me help," Bernie said suddenly, reaching for Nate.
"Thanks," I said, handing him over.
Clark and Bernie headed towards our side of the house and Ashley and I watched them go. Clark had Christopher swung over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
Dad had headed towards the back door, saying he needed to make a phone call.
"Bernie," Ashley said quietly.
Both brothers stopped and turned.
She nodded and Bernie looked at her for a long minute before he and Clark headed back towards the house.
She and I walked slowly towards the house. "I understand why you want to tell your dad," she said suddenly. "Especially with Nate's health issues. I got the impression that your dad thinks you should have been a bit more aggressive with his medical treatment recently."
I nodded. "He has. He knows that we agonized over the decision for surgery but not the full potential ramifications. Fortunately, everything worked fine and there was no 'your son is half-alien' aftermath. It wasn't like he was green inside instead of red or something."
"That's good," she said with a small smile. "Jor-El and Lara pounded it into Bernie's head that he shouldn't let anyone know about him, but that he should help when he could. We saw 'The Incredibles' with my sister and her kids at the theater a couple years ago and ever since then, he's been restless, wanting to do more, to help more. Finally, about a month ago, he asked me to marry him and I told him I would but only if he seriously considered finally doing something about the superhero business. He'd been waffling way too long."
"That was when it first occurred to Clark, too," I told her. "When Christopher saw it, that is. But we were still in college, two weeks later we found out I was pregnant again and the timing just wasn't right. With me sick and everything else while pregnant and then Nate's health, the superhero thing got pushed to the back burner."
"I can understand that," she said as we walked slowly up the stairs to the deck.
We went into the living room and sat down. Daddy joined us before too long and the three of us talked until Clark and Bernie came back in.
Clark held up the baby monitor. "We'll see if he stays put."
"He always stays put for you," I reminded him as he sat next to me, his arm immediately going around me.
He whispered in my ear. "Bernie said it's okay with him."
I nodded. "Daddy," I said abruptly.
Dad looked at me expectantly.
I took a deep breath. "There's something we need to tell you, something I hope you'll understand and not be mad that Clark and I didn't tell you a long time ago."
He looked puzzled. "What's that, Princess?"
"It's about Clark and Bernie and the fact that they're related and where they come from and how they know that and it affects all of us and Christopher and Nate and..." I made myself stop and take a deep breath. "Daddy, Clark and Bernie... They're brothers, we told you that already, but what we didn't tell you is where they were born."
Dad looked from one to the other. "Where were they born?"
I looked at Bernie who nodded and Clark squeezed my shoulder lightly. "They were born on Krypton. Bernie is Van-El, the new superhero and this weekend Martha made Clark a superhero costume of his own."
Dad's jaw dropped and we all waited with bated breath to see his reaction.
*****
TBC
