Thanks to Carol, Kelly, and Beth for being the best betas ever!
From Chapter 24
I put my bowl down and moved over to him, snuggling against his side. “I think it's time for me to move here.”
“What?” Chad asked, clearly surprised.
“I think I should move to Smallville.”
“Lois, that's crazy!” Chad said. “You wouldn't be happy.”
“Maybe I would be,” I insisted. “You were happy for a few years in Metropolis, right? Maybe I'm not giving Smallville a fair chance.”
“Lois,” Chad said, but I could tell he was weakening.
“No,” I said sitting up and taking his hands in mine. “Chad you lived in Metropolis for years just for me. Now it's my turn to move some place for you.”
“Lois,” Chad said, squeezing my hands. “You don't need to do this.”
“I know,” I said. “I want to.”
Chapter 25
“Wow. I'm… well, darlin', I'm flabbergasted,” Perry told me the following morning when I turned in my notice. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “I know, Perry. I don't want to do this, but I can't keep living apart from Chad.”
Perry nodded his head. I wondered if he really understood. Perry clearly loved Alice very much, but sometimes he seemed more devoted to the Planet than to her. A week ago I would have described myself the same way, but that was before I had to make a choice.
“I understand, sugar,” Perry said as he got up to give me a hug. “It doesn't mean I'm not disappointed to lose my star reporter.”
“You'll still have Clark,” I smiled up at him.
Perry nodded. “He won't be the same without you. You two play off each other's strengths. You're better than the sum of your parts.”
“Sort of like Chad and I are as a family,” I said softly.
“And that's what's most important,” Perry said, kissing the top of my head and finally letting me go.
“Thanks, Perry,” I said, glad that he was being so understanding.
“Lois,” he called before I left his office. “As long as I'm editor-in-chief, you'll always have a home at the Planet.”
I smiled weakly. “You can't know how much it means to me to hear that,” I told him.
I walked back to my desk with tears in my eyes. I couldn't believe I was doing this. I was leaving the Planet. This place had been my home for what felt like forever.
I looked over at Clark's desk only to notice he was gone. In reality, now that I thought about it, I'd loved it here, I'd seen it as part of my identity, but until Clark started, it hadn't been quite so family-like here. He brought a warmth to this place that had been missing before. If the newsroom could change that much in a year and a half, then who knew how settled I'd feel in Smallville next year?
“Is it true?” Jimmy asked me as he came and sat in my guest chair. “Are you really leaving?”
I nodded.
“Man, Lois, I thought you were a lifer here. Like Perry or me. Or CK,” Jimmy said.
“I did, too,” I admitted. “But then my life moved to Smallville.”
Jimmy smiled. “Chad's lucky to have you,” he said quietly.
“Thanks, Jimmy,” I smiled at him.
“So,” he said as he got up. “A chocolate fountain? Chocolate sculptures?”
“What?” I laughed at him.
“For your going away party,” he smiled.
“Can we keep it simple?” I asked him. “Maybe just dinner with Perry and Clark?”
“So no chocolate fountain?” Jimmy asked, looking disappointed.
“Not this time.”
“Ah, darn!” he smiled at me as he went back to his desk.
************************
“Well, Mrs. Andrews, I'm sorry you came all the way down here,” Rob Collins said as I sat down.
I could feel my smile start to fail and I forced it into place. This couldn't be happening. What would I do?
“I mean, your record speaks for itself. I don't see the point in interviewing Lois Andrews for a job here. If you can write for the Daily Planet, you can certainly write for the Smallville Press.”
I felt myself relax. He wasn't telling me he didn't have an opening or something. “Well, thank you, Rob. You sure you don't have any questions?”
“Just one,” Rob smiled at me. “Any chance you could convince your Planet partner to come back here and write with you?”
I could tell from his face that he knew the answer to that question, so I didn't feel badly telling him no. “I'm sorry. I think Clark is pretty happy in Metropolis.”
“Well, I just hope we can help make Smallville as comfortable an adopted home for you as you have made Metropolis feel for Clark,” Rob said as he led me out.
“So, I'll be moving right after Christmas,” I explained. “So maybe…”
“Start on January 9th?” Rob suggested. “Time to settle in before you start the new job?”
“That sounds perfect,” I told him as I left and made my way to the hospital.
“So?” Chad asked as he saw me coming down the hallway.
“It wasn't really an interview,” I told him.
“Of course it wasn't. You're Lois Andrews,” he smiled at me.
“I start on January 9th,” I told him as he gave me a fast hug.
“Are you sure about this, Lois?” he asked me. “You don't need to do this for me.”
“I'm not doing it for you,” I told him. “I'm doing it for us.”
Chad kissed me in gratitude before his name was called over the loudspeaker. “I'll see you at the cottage for dinner?”
“At the farmhouse,” I corrected him. “Martha and Jonathan invited us over for dinner.”
“Right,” he smiled at me.
************************
“I thought I said no chocolate fountain,” I said smiling at Jimmy the following weekend.
“You said to keep it simple. Just dinner. This is just dinner,” Jimmy said.
“And officially, this is not a fountain,” Clark pointed out. “It's just a pot of melted chocolate.”
“I guess I can forgive you then,” I smiled at all of them. “I really appreciate your doing this.”
“Taking you to dinner?” Perry asked. “Or trying to find someplace that still served fondue so we could get you something akin to a chocolate fountain?”
“Both,” I told him. “This was the perfect going away party.”
“It would be more perfect if you weren't actually going away,” Jimmy said quietly.
I closed my eyes. “I sort of wish that, too.”
“Well,” Clark interrupted, “maybe we could try to convince Superman to come bring you back here occasionally for visits?”
“You think he would do that?” Jimmy asked amazed while I smiled my appreciation at Clark.
Clark shrugged. “Well, they are sort of friends.”
“Imagine,” Jimmy said, “having Superman at your disposal.”
“I don't think that's quite what Clark was suggesting,” I said.
“I know,” Jimmy said. “But it's still fun to think about.”
“Shall we go?” I asked as I looked around the table. I was the only one still eating and all the strawberries were gone anyway.
Perry nodded and we all got up. I sneaked another taste of the liquid chocolate while Clark tried to help me with my coat, laughing quietly in my ear.
I gave Perry a huge hug outside. “I'm going to miss you,” I told him.
He shook his head. “Me, too,” he hugged me tighter. “You call if you need anything, you hear?”
“I will, Chief,” I told him before turning to hug Jimmy.
“Thanks for planning this, Jimmy. It was perfect,” I told him.
“You deserve it,” he told me with a smile. “You'll come back to the Planet to say goodbye before you actually leave town, right?” he asked.
“I will,” I told him. I turned to Clark. “Are you walking me home?”
“What do you think?” he smiled at me. “Your husband would have my head otherwise.”
************************
“I can't believe you're moving,” Lucy said as she helped me put the dishes away from dinner.
“What do you care?” I asked her. “It's not like you live anywhere near here.”
“I know. But do you know how hard it is to get a flight from San Diego to Smallville?” she asked me.
“Impossible,” I said. “Smallville doesn't have an airport. You have to fly into Wichita or Kansas City and drive.”
“Is that what you've been doing?” Lucy asked.
I paused. I didn't like the idea of lying to my sister, but what was I going to say? I could hardly tell her that I had been getting rides from the Man of Steel.
Luckily, I was saved from having to think of an excuse when Chad came in. “Are you ladies coming back? Ethan is going berserk out there. He is more than ready for presents. He's started spreading cranberry sauce on the walls and I'd like to get our security deposit back on this place.”
“Bobby!” Lucy called to her husband as she ran into the living room.
“How are things going in here?” Chad asked.
“Okay,” I told him as I dried the last dish and placed it in the box. We had used the good china for our Christmas dinner, but it seemed silly to put it away now. We were using the rest of the weekend to pack up anyway.
“Are you okay?” Chad asked as he moved closer.
I nodded. “It's silly really.”
“What?” he prodded me when I didn't explain.
“I just feel like… this is our first home together. I mean the place on Devers Street wasn't really the same,” I said as he moved closer to give me a hug.
“Hey! I heard that!” Lucy said with a smile as she carried her son in front of her. Ethan had apparently moved from spreading cranberry sauce on the walls to spreading it all over himself.
I leaned backwards to grab a paper towel and handed it to Lucy. “The place on Devers was great, Lucy,” I said.
“But it wasn't just you and Chad,” she said. “I understand. I was just teasing.”
“Yeah,” I said simply in reply.
“We'll build a new home,” Chad told me. “You'll see. I know it's not what you dreamed of, but you're going to love Smallville,” Chad told me.
I nodded. I wasn't sure I agreed with him, but I thought it would be okay. It had to be better than being here without him.
************************
“Is that the last of them?” Clark asked as he taped a box closed.
“I hope so,” Lucy said, taking a seat on the floor. Chad and Bobby had gone this morning to give most of our furniture to the Salvation Army. The last thing we had to do was to pack the U-Haul. It would have been easy to let Clark do it, but when Lucy and Bobby had offered to stay for a few extra days after Christmas to help us pack, we didn't want to say no.
“We still need to clean the place,” Chad groaned as we looked around. With all the stuff packed up, you could see the places where we had done a good job of “living” in this place.
“I can start on that,” Lucy offered. “Someone needs to watch Ethan anyway.”
I nodded as I picked up a small box. “Okay. We'll join you once we empty this place out.”
It took us half an hour to get all the boxes into the U-Haul and then Clark suggested taking it for a drive around the block to make sure it was handling properly now that it was full. Chad said it felt unwieldy, so we unpacked the whole thing and repacked it, with Clark directing us to make sure the weight was more evenly distributed.
By the time we finished, Lucy had managed to clean the kitchen and the bathroom – the two places that had certainly seen the most wear.
Clark offered to go get lunch while we finished cleaning. I could tell Bobby thought he was trying to get out of cleaning, but Chad and I heartedly agreed. We figured Clark would likely come back with some great treat from far away and didn't want to miss out given that he wouldn't be doing that so much anymore now that we were living in Smallville.
Lucy was more generous about Clark's disappearance. “I can't believe he offered to come back early from Smallville to help you two pack,” she said. I didn't bother to tell her that Clark would be back in Smallville before we were, planning to spend New Year's with his folks. I thought he might even have been having dinner with Rachel.
“Yeah,” Chad said. “He's been a great friend.”
“Are you guys going to keep staying at his parent's place?” Bobby asked as we all worked on cleaning the bedroom.
Chad sighed. “At least for now. It would be good to get a house, but there aren't that many in Smallville and… I don't know. I think it will be easier for Lois to acclimate with Martha and Jonathan there. They're great people.”
“Eventually, though,” I told them, “we'll want to move to town. Martha and Jonathan are great, but the farm is a little ways out of town and since Chad and I both work in the town itself…”
“Plus it will be nice to have something of your own again,” Lucy said.
“Yes,” I said as I heard the whoosh outside indicating that Clark was back.
Sure enough, he poked his head into the bedroom a moment later. “How's it going in here?”
“Almost done,” Chad said. “What'd you get?”
“Fish and chips,” he said. “Lois has been saying for weeks she wants some and I figured fried food would keep Ethan happy while not hyping him up on sugar before your flight home.”
Bobby smiled. “Sounds perfect. He is getting a bit cranky, so food that he'll eat is much appreciated.”
We moved to the living room and took places on the floor while Clark separated the food onto paper plates.
“Wow!” Bobby said as he swallowed his first bite. “There's someplace that makes such good fish and chips near by?”
“Sort of near by,” Chad said, keeping a completely straight face.
“Just a few minutes away,” Clark said with a smile.
“Clark always knows the best places to get food,” I told them, eyeing the bag Clark had set aside. I hoped I knew what was inside.
“Well, next time you're in San Diego, you're welcome to stay with us and help us find the best restaurants there,” Lucy told him.
“Well,” Clark said thoughtfully. “San Diego does have some good restaurants. Lots of good places for Mexican.”
“In Old Town,” Bobby agreed.
“When were you in San Diego?” Lucy asked.
“I've visited friends there a couple of times, but haven't been in years,” Clark said and I wasn't sure if he was being honest or not. I decided he probably was. Clark hated to lie and was awful at it, so he probably would not have let on that he knew anything about San Diego restaurants if he had not had a legitimate reason for having been there.
“So,” I interrupted their small talk. I eyed the bag again and Clark smiled.
“Like you thought I forgot?” he asked me.
“Like you thought I didn't notice it?” I teased him back. “What is it?”
“You know what it is,” Chad smiled at me.
“What is it?” Lucy asked.
“Chocolate mousse,” Chad answered her. “Clark found a little bakery that makes what Lois declares is the best chocolate mousse ever.”
Clark pulled a container of the velvety concoction out of the bag. “But it's not just Lois' last night in Metropolis,” he smiled.
I laughed as Chad's eyes lit up. “Crème brulee?” he asked.
Clack took two small containers out of the bag. “I wasn't sure who would want what,” he said as he placed them between us.
Ethan immediately began reaching for the crème brulee and Lucy grabbed him before he crushed the sugary top.
Pulling more paper plates out of the bag, Clark handed us each one and a minute later, we were all on the way to sugar rushes.
