YAY! To Kathy being back online and liking my plot inspiration
.
Thanks to her for her amazing beta skills [and approval of the rewrites of 14-15].
Last time
Her uncle turned back to the form. "Okay... Other. See form 92-B4," he muttered as he wrote a note on there. He handed her the newly copied sheet of paper. "Fill that one out, too, hon." He pulled it away as she tried to take it from him. "Are you *sure*?"
She nodded. "I'm sure, Uncle Joe," she said softly and took the form from him, filling in the relevant information about where and when they'd slept together and listed several possible references of people who knew.
Clark chose that moment to walk back in. He pulled something out of his pocket. "I thought you'd want this for today."
Tears sprang to her eyes as she eyed the pendant she'd worn to the fundraiser the night before – the one every woman in his family had worn on their wedding day for generations.
"Thank you," she whispered, sweeping her hair off her neck so he could fasten it for her. His hands came to rest on her shoulders and he pressed a kiss against the crown of her head.
"Okay, kids," Joe said, interrupting the moment. "Let's make this official."
*~*6*~*Clark gave Lois' shoulders a gentle squeeze and returned to his seat next to her.
This wasn't exactly how he'd seen an evening in Smallville playing out, but a small smile crept across his face at the thought of what the rest of the night would probably bring.
Joe asked them a couple of questions about the validity of the information on the forms. He looked over what Lois had filled out while he'd flown back to Metropolis as fast as he could to get the pendant for her. It seemed... right. He also had rings in his pocket, but he'd give those to her later. The necklace could have been in his pocket and forgotten but rings would be harder to explain to her uncle.
Everything looked right on the form – Martha and Jonathan both knew they'd slept together the week before – the first time anyway. There were more people who had known about the time after that but they were using the first night as their wedding date.
"Wait," he asked suddenly. "Not to split hairs or anything, but was it before or after midnight when we fell asleep?"
"Before," Lois told him, glaring his direction.
He didn't think she was any more certain than he was, but without either of them knowing for sure, she was going with the earlier date.
They both signed the forms and Joe notarized them. He smiled. "That's it. You're legally married. I'll get the paperwork filed and have a certificate mailed to you."
"Can you give it to my folks?" Lois asked. "They'll make sure we get it."
Joe nodded. "Of course."
They all stood and Joe gave Lois a big hug before shaking Clark's hand. "Congratulations."
Clark took Lois' hand as they headed back outside.
"Let's get back to the farm before anybody sees us," Lois said.
They ducked into the alley and he wrapped his arms around her, taking off quickly and landing on the farm mere seconds later.
She turned to look at him shyly from under lowered lashes. He took both of her hands in both of his.
"Hello, wife," he said softly, leaning down to kiss her gently.
"Hello, husband," she said back, before kissing him again.
"I have something else for you," he told her, reaching into his pocket. "I just hope they fit."
"What?"
He pulled out the rings. "They were Grams'. If you want something new, we'll go shopping and I'll get you the kind of ring you've always dreamed of, but Gramps gave these to me a long time ago in case my bride liked them."
She gasped as he held them out. "Clark, they're gorgeous. And they look like..."
He smiled. "I know. It's a Trillian cut and it looks kind of like my 'S'. This was her second set – the ones he got her for their thirtieth anniversary." He took her left hand in his, sliding the rings on. "With this ring, I thee wed," he said softly.
"I wish I had one for you," she told him, fingering the rings into place.
"It doesn't matter to me. I know where I belong and that's all that really counts."
She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "But once we get you one, then Sarah will know where you belong, too." She leaned up and kissed him soundly. "She doesn’t need to be checking out your butt if she knows you're married."
Tires crunching in the drive brought their attention back to the present.
Lois sighed. "Are we telling my parents?"
"Don't you think?" he asked back, his arms tightening around her. "You're wearing my ring, they'll be getting the certificate soon enough... Why'd you have him give it to them?"
"So you can fly out and get it. That'll be faster than the mail."
He nodded. "Makes sense."
He let go of her and headed towards the house, hand in hand. He wondered how she was going to handle it. Was she just going to tell them or...
His thoughts were interrupted by greetings from his new in-laws.
To his surprise, Lois didn't mention anything to her parents about their trip to see her uncle.
"What's for dinner?" she asked as they walked into the kitchen.
"Stromboli," Martha told her, nodding towards the rising bread dough.
Lois groaned. "It's not put together yet?"
Clark glanced between the three of them as Martha and Jonathan laughed. "What?"
Martha shook her head slightly. "Lois loves Stromboli but hates making it."
"It takes so long," she whined. "We won't eat for like an hour and a half."
"Do you have some other big plans tonight?" her mom asked with a smirk.
Lois glanced at him from under lowered eyelashes and he could hear her heart rate first skip a beat and then pick up significantly.
Yes, they definitely had other big plans for later.
Maybe he could speed the process up. "I could bake them," he said suddenly.
"What?" All three Kents spoke in unison.
He shrugged. "I could bake it with my eyes."
"Your eyes?" Lois asked skeptically, taking a cookie out of the jar.
"You remember. My eye gizmo thingies or whatever you called them."
She raised an eyebrow. "Your vision gizmos include a baking bread setting?"
He shrugged. "Close enough." He really wanted to cross the kitchen, take her in his arms and kiss her senseless, then show her some of his other powers. His mind had been way too occupied with ways to use them when they were together for the last week.
Lois sighed. "Well, let's get them ready so Clark can superbake them."
She reached for a rolling pin and the flour, setting both on the table. She sprinkled some of the flour around before taking about a third of the bread dough and plopping it in the middle with a puff of flour.
Martha chuckled as she extracted about half of the rest of the dough from the bowl. "Jonathan, you want to start cutting the ham or shredding the cheese?"
Jonathan pulled the meat slicer out from under the counter and dug around the fridge for the ham. He expertly situated it and began shaving off thin slices.
"I guess that leaves me with the cheese," Clark said.
Martha pointed him towards the grater and he easily found the block of Colby Jack.
He began grating and a few seconds later was down to just the end of the two pound chunk. He looked up to see everyone staring at him.
"What?" he asked.
Lois shook her head. "Show off," she muttered.
He glanced at her parents who had gone back to what they were doing. He leaned over and whispered. "Tell you what, I'll show off for you later all you want."
Lois blushed and kept her attention on the bread dough she was rolling out. "I'll hold you to that," she whispered under her breath.
"Good," he whispered back and wondered how long before they could get away.
*****
TBC
