Title: With The Flip Of A Coin
Author: Chlark4ever92
Genre: Angst/General
Pairings: Jonathan/Martha
Rating: K+
Spoilers: I guess if you haven't seen Reckoning or any episodes after that.
Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville. Why anyone would want to sue me, is just beyond me. I'm 13, and even the clothes on my body and this keyboard I'm typing on belong to my parents. All I own is this little idea that I turned into a story.
Summary: One-shot. Martha thinks back to an easier time. A time when all of her problems could be solved with just the flip of a coin.
A/N: For the people reading my other story, "Life, Love, And Destiny", that will be updated on Tuesday night. This is just a little idea that came to me when I woke up this morning, and I just couldn't get it out of my head. Today was my grandma's 90th birthday, so I wasn't able to get this written until tonight. As the day went on little pieces came to me in a pretty bizarre order, but I assure you its completely chronological now. Except for the flashback, I suppose (which is in italics). However you want to look at that is up to you. Okay, now I'm just confusing myself, so on to the story! Read, review, and enjoy!
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Martha Kent had walked into her bedroom at night, every night, for years. Sure the time wasn't always the same, and there were nights when she was more tired than others. But these were little things that she had never really minded, even if she was the type of person who liked to be on top of everything, and have everything a certain way all the time.
She was a senator now, and although many people commended her type A personality, and thought it something to eulogize, she wasn't so sure. She didn't feel like that type of person anymore. Those little things that she had let slide were now accompanied with many other things.
She felt so apathetic towards things that used to mean the world to her. She couldn't help it. The world just felt like a bare nothingness that she had to trudge through everyday. Was she depressed?
No. She had often pondered that question, but she knew that this was normal. Or at least that's what she would tell herself, to help keep her sane. Besides she knew she still had a purpose in this world. She was a senator, and more importantly, Clark needed her.
And so she made her way to her bed as she did every night. The room had that cold autumn chill, and she realized she had left her bedroom window open. She shrugged it off. The room felt so cold, so empty anyway these past few months.
As she made her way to the window, she thought of how, just months ago, she would have scolded herself for making such a simple, stupid mistake. She would have muttered under her breath about how dim-witted she must have been for not remembering such a simple thing. She smiled a bit as she recalled how Jonathan would ask what was wrong, and when she told him of it in a frustrated way, he would just chuckle. Then he would take her in his arms, lightly kiss her forehead, and tell her that she was being silly.
When she reached the window she felt tears falling slowly down her face. She didn't wipe them away. Instead she stood in front of the window, closing her eyes and feeling the cold breeze against her wet cheeks.
After a minute, she closed the window, and turned towards her bed. She tried to move, but found that she couldn't. It was as though her feet were glued to the floor as she stood staring at the bed before her.
She didn't want to do this every night. She didn't want to have to sleep in that big bed without him. It seemed so long ago that her biggest problem was deciding who got which side of the bed. But of course, Jonathan had come up with the solution for that. She had always known him to be quick to come up with a plan. But who would have guessed that that one little moment would help to shape their entire marriage...
"Are we going to do this every night, Martha? We've been married for two weeks now, and we still can't work out this simple thing."
"Well if you weren't so stubborn then we wouldn't have to do this every night. I've slept on the left side as long as I can remember."
"So have I, and obviously I'm not the only stubborn one here. It takes two people to make a simple argument last this long."
"Exactly. So why don't you be the one to end it tonight?" She crossed her arms as she stood in front of the small window, looking at the young, handsome farmer she had given up her whole life in Metropolis to be with. She loved him, but he was just so stubborn.
"Well if neither of us is willing to give in, then..." He trailed off, and his eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.
He looked up from the floor suddenly, his eyes bright with a new idea. She loved when he did that. She could almost feel herself falling for him all over again.
He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a quarter. Holding it up to her, he just looked at her with a self-satisfied grin.
She uncrossed her arms, and motioned for him to explain.
"Well" he began, "if we can't decide on our own, then maybe we just need a little push from fate."
He paused for a moment, and when she nodded showing that she understood, he gave a small smirk.
"Heads or tails?"
Martha shook her head. She couldn't believe how long ago that was. From that moment on they had always decided everything, that they couldn't work out on their own, with the flip of a coin.
She sighed deeply before finally moving from the window, towards her side of the bed.
"Umm, tails"
"Are you sure?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"You just sound unsure" he said trying to hide a smirk.
She looked at him incredulously. "Jonathan Kent, is that a trick coin you have there?" she said walking towards him.
"No" he said quickly, and dropped the coin, before hastily pulling another out of his other pocket.
The coin rolled to her feet, and she bent down to pick it up. It was on heads. Flipping it over she confirmed her suspicions.
It too read heads.
She looked at him accusingly, and he just shrugged, a guilty look on his face. "Sorry" he said.
"Let me see that" she told him, holding out her hand.
He sighed and handed over the other coin to her. Heads. She flipped it over. Tails.
"Good. Now, I'm sticking with tails" she said handing it over to him.
He took the coin, and flipped it into the air. When he caught it in the palm of his hand, he looked at Martha, then back down, and opened up his fist, revealing the side the coin had landed on.
As Martha reached her side of the bed, she paused and recalled that one last moment of the memory that had been visiting her every night, since that dreadful day when she had lost him.
His hand opened, ending the argument over who got to sleep on the left side of the bed. Sitting there, in his palm, was the coin, tails up.
She smiled brightly, making him smile in return, even though he had lost. "I win" she stated happily. She walked up to him, smirking in triumph, and patted him twice on the cheek, before saying "better luck next time."
She turned away from him towards the bed, but stopped, and turned back around to face him, as she remembered something. "Oh, and by the way. From now on, I'll be inspecting the coin before you're allowed to flip it."
He smiled and shook his head slowly. He walked up to her, and kissed her deeply.
She climbed into bed, on the left side, as she had done every night since she was little. She missed him so much. Giving up her side of the bed seemed so small.
After that night she would always argue with him about silly things like that, just so they could decide it with the flip of a coin. It was their thing, and she loved it.
It was that memory that made these nights bearable. She could almost feel his arms around her.
Pulling the blanket over her, she grabbed his pillow from the right side of the bed. She buried her face into it, breathing in his scent, that she was so thankful had never left. She never wanted to forget him, as painful as it was to remember him.
And so, everyday with the flip of a coin she continues their little tradition, feeling his presence with her every time.
The End.